Spring of Drowned Vampire Girl
by Gothicphoto
Summary: Vampire the Requiem and Ranma 12 fusion
1. Prologue

Prologue of Vampire 1/2

"Welcome to Jusenkyo Springs, Honored customers."

The guide from Jusenkyo knew that these two, father and son martial artists and from Japan would be like the rest of the visitors to the Springs of Sorrow. They won't listen and they'll get cursed.

The two were ignoring his warnings and jumping and fighting all over the springs, bouncing from bamboo shoot to bamboo shoot. There were over a hundred springs scattered through the training ground, each one with its own unique curse. Most of them were harmless, as far as curses went, but a few actually dangerous. They were fenced off to prevent their curses from afflicting anybody.

The two were coming dangerously close to one of those springs, but were so wrapped up in their own battle that this little detail went unnoticed. Soon enough, the older of the two was hit by a lucky shot and went flying into a pool. The guide let out a relieved yell.

"You fall in spring of drowned panda, tragic legend of panda who drown long time ago, now whoever fall into spring take body of panda."

"What was that?" the young man yelled at the guide.

The guide didn't have time to answer when a panda shot out of the spring that his father had just fell into. The panda landed on a shoot, balanced itself into a pose for attack in a remarkably human pose. The young man was to stunned to react when the animal attacked using the same martial arts that his father had used before falling into the water. The boy was sent through the wooden fence and into the spring with a definite splash.

"Oh no!" The guide was frantically making his way to the boy, weaving through the springs as only one intimately familiar with them could. It took him only a few seconds, and he knew that speed was of the essence.

The boy fell into the spring, but didn't feel immediately different. It wasn't until he broke the surface and into daylight that he was engulfed in pain. He cried out at the intensity of it, he started to panic and try to get out of the water. It was the only thing that he could think of that was causing it.

The guide was there when the boy broke the surface of the water and started to scream and thrash for the side of the spring. Grabbing the special supplies that were set within the fence of this special spring, the guide quickly scooped up the figure in the water before wrapping it up in the heavy blanket that had been setting by the pool. The figure stilled as soon as it was out of the sun's light.

"Oh, customer, you very unfortunate. You fall in spring of drowned vampire girl. Tragic tale of vampire girl who drown her 1500 years ago. Don't worry though, hot water turn you back, but cold water give this body back." The guide knew that the now girl wasn't hearing him. No other pool came with an owner's manual, but this one had, so great was it's curse.

Calmly walking back to his house on the edge of the springs while carrying the wrapped figure, the guide could see the confusion on the new panda's face while it was trying to grasp just what had happened and where it's son was.

"Come with me honored customer, I will explain everything to you once there."

Meanwhile, on a cluff hanging over the pools of sorrow, a young man wearing a bandana was looking over the poos as if searching for something. So intent was his concentration that he didn't notice the shifting of the rocks until it was too late and he was suddenly standing on falling rock.

"Damn you Ranm(Splash)"

Author's notes:

This is my story of an Alternate Universe centered around Ranma 1/2 and fused with Vampire the Requiem by White Wolf. While I am basing the basic plot and the main characters on those in Ranma, I am not going to be following the storyline or arc. In other words, Akane doesn't get Ranma.

I've decided to run with the new Requiem version of the Vampire Game instead of the older Masquerade rules because of novelty and I haven't seen it done yet. I hope that you enjoy where I take the story.

I've decided to repost the story after it was erased when my account was close before. I hope this isn't a mistake.


	2. chapter 1

Vampire1/2 chapter one.

Nabiki was engrossed in the newest thing to come into her possession. She had just had one of the strangest experiences of her young life by meeting a panda and an odd young girl. The girl was in the dojo with her younger sister and the panda was curiously absent, to have been replaced by an older guy who was talking to her father. During the entire thing, the girl had dropped a small book and Nabiki had picked it up.

So far the thing was far fetched but an interesting read. Too bad it couldn't have been true, nothing like that could ever actually happen. It was keeping Nabiki busy until dinner was ready, so she didn't care where her distraction came from.

She vaguely recalled Kasumi telling her to inform Akane that the bath was ready , which she did before going back to the book. She had already burned through half of it when Akane started to scream about perverts and somebody in the bathroom as well as grabbing something large from the backyard to drown him with.

That's when the young man made his entrance.

"I'm Ranma Saotome, sorry about this."

Before anybody knew what happened, they were all in the dinner room by the backyard looking at an older man in a white gi and an younger man dressed just like the girl had been dressed in earlier, a red Chinese shirt and black pants.

"I am Genma Saotome, and this is my son…"

"Ranma Saotome."

"What are you trying to pull? What happened to the girl and panda from earlier?" Nabiki fired off a salvo of her questions at the pair.

"Hmmm, how to explain this? I know!" Genma said before throwing his son out of the house and into the pond in the back yard with a large splash. The water settled a little before bursting forth to reveal the girl from earlier. Red hair, pale skin, little fangs, quite a bit shorter than what she was as a boy. Nabiki was shocked. He was the girl from earlier, but that was impossible. She quickly brought the book up and started to flip pages, looking for something that she had skimmed over while reading.

The neo girl had kicked her father into the pond as well, turning him into a panda, before staring to trade blows with him.

'Jusenkyo spring of drowned vampire girl second most cursed spring in all of jusenkyo's hundred springs, only surpassed by yeti riding ox carrying swan and eel spring.' Nabiki read the passage to herself. Looking up at Ranma for confirmation that this was indeed true. 'The curse does not make you evil, and there are ways around the curse of the vampire, but the way is fraught with peril.'

Ranma and Genma went to get some hot water before continuing the meeting. Kasumi a concerned look on her face and Akane was not so silently fuming. Nabiki was weighing the pros and cons of the situation. Flipping through the book to look at one thing or another while trying to determine the best route for her and her family.

Ranma and Genma came back into the room and sat back where they were before to continue the conversation.

"Please tell my daughters what happened in China to cause this." Soun prompted.

Soon the story of that fateful day was laid out for the family, only a few details were missing, such as the vampiric part of the curse, but Nabiki couldn't blame Ranma for the omission. If it were her, she wouldn't have revealed so much so soon.

"The legendary springs of sorrow, their true horrors have always been shrouded in mystery, but now…" Soun said.

"Whaddya mean 'True horror'? What was the idea, dragging me to a place like that in the first place?" Ranma had grabbed Genma by the front of his gi, only to have the old man toss him out into the pond again with little fanfair.

"You sound like a woman! Weren't you prepared to sacrifice your life for the art?"

"My life? Yes, my manhood? No!" Ranma screamed while splashing Genma with a pail and started to throw punches at the old man.

"You just went too far, Mr. Saotome!" Kasumi angry was a rare sight.

"Yeah! Even for Martial Arts training!" Nabiki was in agreement with her sister.

"What ever made you do something so dangerous?" Kasumi yelling in anger was a first.

The panda was nonplused by it and simply tossed a pad to her with Chinese writings on it.

"It's Chinese. A map…and guide book?"

"Something about …'Training grounds'"

"No wonder…you can't read Chinese can you?"

It was at that moment, after the panda had acknowledged his ignorance of the Chinese language that Soun upended a tea kettle full of steaming water on the panda's head.

"So. When doused with hot water, you return to human form."

"Well, it needn't be quite that hot."

"When doused with cold water, you become a girl…but hot water turns you back into a boy!" Ranma saw the hot water coming and barely dodged out of the way.

"Hot water! Not boiling!" She yelled, eyeing the steam coming off the water.

"No sweat. Your problem isn't so terrible, after all!" Soun stated, wrapping an arm around the pale girls shoulder and patting it.

"My Daughter Kasumi. Nineteen. And Nabiki. Seventeen. And Akane. Sixteen. Pick the one you want. She's your fiancé."

"Oh, he wants Akane!" Kasumi was quick to avoid the engagement. Nabiki was looking at the red head girl, noting the look of calm panic on her face. She decided to make a move now and see if she could figure something out.

"Wait, daddy. I would like to know more about Ranma before he makes a decision." Nabiki smirked confidently.

"If you're so interested in him, he can be your fiancé." Akane yelled. "I'll never marry that pervert!"

"Say…Whaddya mean 'pervert'?" Ranma yelled.

"You looked at my body, pervert!"

"Hold it! You walked in on me!"

"It's different when a girl sees a boy!"

"They're already a perfect couple!" Soun said with Genma.

"He's a couple by himself! And if you ever…"

"Goodbye!"

"Where are you going boy?"

"Back to China! To find a way to change back for good! This is no time for "fiancés" By the way…You took a pretty good look at me, too. Besides, it's no big deal for me to see a naked girl. I mean, I've seen myself plenty of times, right? And I'm built better to boot.!"

Ranma didn't get very far after Akane flattened him with a table.

"Now that he had coming!" Was Genma's only response.

Ranma awoke a little while later, she was alone except for Nabiki.

"Ah, you're awake. You okay to talk?" Nabiki couldn't pull of Kasumi's motherly concern but she was doing her best.

"Oooooo, my head. I guess so. Tell me I'm not engaged to that girl." Ranma clutched her head as she sat up.

"Not yet, but everybody seems to take it for granted that you two are. That's not important though, I have a few questions for you regarding your curse."

"Whaddya wanto know?" Ranma was suddenly nervous.

"I want to know if you told us the whole truth about your curse."

Ranma looked into the eyes of Nabiki and saw that she would not get away with lying to the girl. Mainly because Ranma knew that she was a horrible liar to begin with, but the eyes told her that it would be worse if she even tried.

Sighing "No, my curse is worse than just turning into a girl." Ranma said, she reached for her pack and started to rummage in it, looking for something. "Where is it?"

"What are you looking for?"

"A book that explains my curse better than I can, it was right here." Ranma said in frustration.

"You mean this thing." Nabiki smirked as she held up the item of Ranma's search.

Ranma's eyes narrowed in suspicion

"No I didn't go through your pack, you dropped on your way in the door. So this is true then? You really are a…"

"Shhh…Don't say it. Yes, I am. No, I won't. Yes, but as little as possible, and only when I have to. It burns like hell. No they don't, and no I'm not."

"Huh?" Nabiki was more than a little shocked at the barrage of answers she was getting with out asking any questions. "What are you talking about?"

"Your questions. Look at the back of the book."

On the back of the book, there was a title that read, 'Common Questions you will hear once somebody knows.' There was a list under it that went with the answers that Ranma had provided. 'Are you really a vampire? Will you suck my blood? Do you have to drink blood? Does sunlight kill you? Will crosses repel you? Are you joking?'

"I see. Hold it Ranma, I'm not done yet." Nabiki waited for Ranma to sit back down before continuing. "I've read a lot of this book tonight, I'll admit to being a little scared, …" Nabiki could see the pale girl start to wilt at the admission. "But I'm also quite intrigued. I have a good feeling about you, Saotome. You never made a decision tonight about which one of us you wanted as a fiancé. Since it is Family Honor, I don't think that you can just walk away from it."

Ranma had to admit to that, even though that was precisely what she had been planning to do during the fight with Akane before getting thwacked with the table, it wouldn't change that it was Family Honor on the line. As much as it galled her, she was going to marry a Tendo.

"Right now, everybody has accepted that Akane is going to be your fiancé. Akane is the martial artist of the family now, but she has issues with her anger, has issues with boys in general, and you didn't make the best impression on her to begin with. I, on the other hand, already know the darker side of your curse and I am willing to accept you irregardless. I think you have potential, but just need a push in the right direction, and I like to think things through before acting. Think it over, and give an answer in the morning at breakfast."

Nabiki got up at that and started to head to the kitchen, leaving a bewildered Ranma.

"I think the bath is still ready and you missed dinner while you were out. Go up and change and get something to eat." With that Nabiki was out of the room.

Ranma's head still hurt from where the table had hit her. Nabiki had given her a lot to think about, which didn't help her headache any. The fact that Nabiki knew and didn't freak out was something that pleasantly surprised Ranma to no end.

Ranma stepped into the changing room of the furo to undress before washing. Ranma wasn't sure about what Nabiki meant about Akane, she had seemed really nice and was really cute, up until she walked in on her in the furo. I'd like to have her as a friend, Ranma thought to herself as she put the last of her clothing into the bin. She was about to open the door to the furo when it opened up to reveal a naked Akane.

"You" Akane's face matched her voice, filled with venom and promised pain.

Pow

Something clicked in Ranma's mind when Akane's hand met her face. She suddenly understood what Nabiki was telling her earlier. Akane had already stormed out of the furo, leaving Ranma to the bath alone with her thoughts.

Ranma was deep in thought the rest of the night, occasionally looking up at both Akane and Nabiki while eating. Akane had a scowl on her face, twisting her features into one of disgust and rage at the idea of being engaged to whatever Ranma was. Nabiki, on the other hand, was cool, treating Ranma like a person and being nice.

Mornings at the Tendo household had, until this morning, been a peaceful affair. Kasumi would get up to start the day and breakfast, Akane would jog a little and do some morning katas, and Nabiki and Soun would get up just in time to eat breakfast. This morning was the first day of Ranma and Genma's occupation of the Tendo household and was also the host of the first all out morning sparring session between Ranma and his father.

Breakfast was called and the two newest additions to the household quickly joined the others at breakfast. Akane was still glowering in anger over the insult of being engaged to Ranma and took every opportunity to glare at the young man. The looks were not lost on the pigtailed martial artist, and his thoughts were turned back to what the middle daughter had said to him the night before.

He quickly finished breakfast with the usual gusto of Saotome speed eating and then waited patiently for everybody else to finish before he said that he had something to say about last night.

"I just wanted to say somethin' about what happened last night. Mr. Tendo, while I don't think that now is a good time for me to be engaged to any of your daughters, you did give me a choice."

"I did, if I remember, you chose Akane, isn't that right Genma?" Replied Soun, oblivious the dirty looks given to him by Akane, Nabiki, and Ranma.

"Daddy, I'm not marrying that pervert!" Akane roared with outrage.

"Mr. Tendo, I didn't choose her and it is apparent that she doesn't want me. So I am letting you know that I am forced to choose Nabiki to be my fiancé." Ranma said quickly and loudly before the situation could get any further out of control.

Nabiki smirked at the announcement while Akane was in something of a state of shock. Soun was a little surprised at what Ranma had to say, but couldn't deny what he was seeing and had heard. Contrary to popular belief, Soun was an intelligent man and he could pick up on the clues around him. Its just that when it came to certain situations involving family honor and wedding plans, he entered into tunnel vision. Nabiki the fiancé fit into that tunnel vision just as easily as Akane the fiancé did at this point.

"Is this acceptable to you daughter?" Soun asked Nabiki in an unheard display of concern over the matter of the engagement. This was to be expected. Soun knew who kept the house and family in the green with money and didn't want to threaten the financial peace by angering his middle daughter.

"Since Akane doesn't want him, yeah I'll take him."

"Then it's settled. Nabiki shall be Ranma's fiancé" Soun said.

"Now that everything is settled, we really need to be getting to school." Nabiki said with a meaningful glance at Ranma.

"School?" Ranma was looking confused, he hadn't been to school in awhile.

"Well, we are going to be staying a while." Genma said.

"It's the same school that me and Akane go to. Hurry up and I'll walk you there."

The walk to school was a pleasant one, Ranma was walking along the top of the fence while Nabiki was strolling with him along the ground. Akane was behind the new couple, still smoldering in the bad mood created by last night's events and this morning's complication. Akane was aware that she had been rejected by Ranma and was aware that it was exactly what she wanted, but couldn't help but be angry at the rejection.

Ranma and Nabiki were discussing the engagement, or rather, Nabiki was telling Ranma what she thought of it.

"I'm not ready to get married yet, but I know daddy won't give up on something when he gets his mind set on something. I think that it would be best if we just went along with it for right now." Nabiki was saying calmly.

Ranma was nodding silently. He was inclined to agree, his father had never pushed him to do something other than the art this hard before. It was actually kind of disconcerting to see the old man focus on something other than training.

Ranma jumped down off of the fence when a gap appeared. Just as he was landing, a splash of cold water went right into his face. Almost immediately the warm feel of the morning sun became an excruciatingly painful burning. Ranma dropped to the ground and curled up into a ball while howling at the pain.

Akane watched the change happen and was shaken by the scream of pain coming from Ranma after he had gotten splashed. Nabiki was startled by the sudden screams of pain, but quickly shook it off and reached into her bag for the thermos that she had prepared that morning for something like this. Soon, Ranma was getting back on his feet while giving the old woman who had been washing the sidewalk a dirty look.

"Come on, we need to get to school." Nabiki said, grabbing Ranma's hand, pulling him away from the water slinging lady.

Nabiki pulled Ranma into the school yard and past the large group of students that were gathered waiting for Akane to arrive. Ranma took notice of the large crowd and turned a questioning eye towards Nabiki. Nabiki shrugged and gave him a look that said she would explain all in a minute. They were actually in the building when the sounds of combat started outside.

Ranma was about to head back outside when Nabiki stopped him.

"Don't Ranma. This happens every morning and nobody has gotten hurt yet. Besides, look at the clouds." Nabiki pointed at the darkening sky that was threatening a small downpour. The memory of earlier that morning clamped onto Ranma's spine, making him shiver.

"What is going on though? Why is everybody attacking Akane?" Ranma asked while being pulled along by Nabiki, he was no longer threatening to go out side.

"Kuno is what is going on. He's an upperclassman that has a crush on Akane. He made an announcement at the beginning of school that only somebody that beats Akane could date her, thus the crowd. The only reason anybody listens to him is because he's the captain of the kendo club." Nabiki said while stopping in front of Ranma's home room.

"That's horrible. How does Akane deal with it?" Ranma said with a shocked look on his face.

"So far she's undefeated. I think that she enjoys the attention and the chance to train. She's never seriously hurt anybody yet. Here's your room, I'll see you at lunch. I've got to run or I'll be late." With that, Nabiki left him and ran off to her own room. Ranma sighed and walked in to talk to the teacher.

The day past quickly for Ranma, after he was introduced to the class and was seated next to Akane, he quickly zoned out and stopped paying attention to the teacher. Akane was feeling better, the cathartic experience of beating on the pervert squad always made her feel better, and beating Kuno never got old.

Nabiki wasn't paying attention in class, her attention was on the booklet that she had liberated from Ranma the night before. The booklet was old, but had been printed off and it was obvious that it wasn't a first generation copy. The booklet was thin and only covered the basics of the curse.

The booklet listed the many things that the newly cursed should avoid and what they should expect in the future because of it. One of the first things mentioned was the effect of the sun on the cursed form.

_The sun, while painful, is not fatal. The pain is so intense that prolonged exposure to it would inevitably drive one insane, so even brief contact is discouraged. _

Nabiki thought about the morning's incident when Ranma had gotten splashed and could agree that the incident must have been painful for the young martial artist.

_As long as you are not bleeding to death when splashed with cold water or spend to much time as a vampire, you should never feel the hunger for blood. If you do, then animal blood will satisfy your hunger. _

_A warning, never change from your cursed form if you haven't feed and you are hungry, the hunger marks how much blood is in your body, to become mortal without it is to invite death. _

It was this passage that convinced Nabiki that Ranma wasn't a danger to her family. There were many things about this curse of Ranma's that intrigued the young woman. It was one of the reasons that she had encouraged Ranma to chose her for the engagement. The other reason was that she knew that she would handle the truth better than Akane would.

Now how to either keep Ranma's curse a secret or to break it to the family so that they don't freak out at the boy, Nabiki thought to herself. It didn't help that every time during the day that Ranma would get wet and change he would shut down, often in extreme pain. Nabiki knew that Ranma couldn't help it.

The contents of the book that Nabiki was reading were actually quite short, most of the little booklet was actually the same information repeated in different languages. Whoever wrote this certainly wanted to make sure that they were understood, wait a second, who did write this? Nabiki started to look at the booklet with greater attention to detail when she had that thought.

The fruits of her labors was a phone number, almost casually laid out on the last page of the booklet, there wasn't anything to draw any attention to it, yet the way it was presented left no doubt in Nabiki's mind that it wasn't a printer's number.

It had been several weeks since Akira had received the phone call from his contact in China. The contact, a trustworthy if somewhat unreliable person, had given Akira the address that he was now watching. He had been watching it for the past few weeks waiting for a specific somebody to return.

Akira had been rewarded for his patience last night when he had witnessed the arrival a strange panda and a small red headed girl just after sunset.

They certainly fit the description that old guide gave me, but now I just have to watch to make sure that she doesn't break the masquerade in her innocence. Akira thought to himself while he was perched up in a tree just out of the Tendo Dojo.

Nobody ever took notice of the stray cat that made itself at home in the tree.

Author's notes:

The story truly diverges when Ranma goes into the spring. From there, everything is different.

The nature of the curse; all will be explained in due time, but for right now, I'll let you know that at this point in time, Ranma cannot be killed or really harmed by sunlight. However, it is extremely painful for him to be exposed to it in his cursed form.

Beyond that you're going to have to wait until next chapter for more information on the curse.

I've never really liked the Kuno character, this includes reading as well as writing his lines, I just don't think that I can write that kind of delusion.

Catch you on the flip side.


	3. chapter 2

Vampire 1/2 Chapter 2

Standard Disclaimer: I don't own any of this, leave me alone.

Author's Notes:

This is my first big exposition chapter to explain the logic that I'm applying to this story. I hope that it will explain everything to your liking. It was difficult to write because I've got scenes in my head that happen later, but I first have to get to them by writing what comes first.

Chapter 2

#Please leave your name, number, and a brief message after the beep. If this concerns any Spring water from China, please read the first sentence out of the guide book. Beep#

The message had asked for a language from a list before directing her to this voice mail. It was lucky that she had the book in her hand to read the number from while she made toll free call.

"Nabiki Tendo, 555-555-5555, the first sentence in the guide book, in Japanese, is 'Don't panic.' I need to get some more information on the curse, and its effects are in the long run." She spoke briefly into the phone before hanging up. She had always hated voice messages, even answering machines. She never knew what to say to them, unlike when she spoke to a person.

Nabiki had made the call as soon as she had gotten home, after a hasty 'I'm Home'.

Now that she had that little errand out of the way, she could focus on other, less important things to do. Like talking to Ranma about his 'condition'.

Ranma was in the Dojo, doing katas, trying to work up an appetite before dinner and to work off some stress from the day. While it was true that he had managed to avoid getting involved in Akane's mess at school, she was in a worse mood than before because of the hentai horde. It didn't matter what he did or said, he was in trouble with her just because he was male.

After getting wet in the morning, Ranma had managed to avoid getting wet for the rest of the day. He was immensely grateful for that, the pain that he felt when caught in the sunlight was the worst thing that he ever felt. It easily overshadowed the time that his father…

"Okay, Soatome, I think its time that we talked about what happened today." Nabiki said in a warm tone.

"What's there ta talk about? Oh, by the way, thanks for the hot water this morning." Ranma said in an oblivious tone.

"There are several things to talk about, especially when it concerns hot and cold water. You just dropped when that lady splashed you and started to scream, you were lucky that I brought that thermos at all. Believe it or not, but that was kind of disturbing. Is this something common for you?"

"I hadn't really noticed it before, after we got cursed, me and pops were in our cursed forms most of the way back here. When I'm in my cursed form, I just slept during the day, but I would be up at night, since we couldn't get much hot water while we were in China, we would hide during the day. Pop would usually have some hot water ready when I woke up and we would be normal until we would get splashed again."

"But that doesn't explain why you screamed when you were splashed. Were you in pain?"

A haunted look came to Ranma's face as he remembered the times he had been caught in the sunlight when he got wet. "Nabiki, I don't know how to put into words that you can understand. Its one of the most painful things I've ever felt, like my entire body is on fire, only worse. I won't let this curse beat me though."

"How can you just ignore it like this? You didn't mention it after you got up and we went to school."

"Nabiki, I'm a martial artist, I deal with pain on a daily basis. I thrive on it. Besides, its just painful, I'm not injured after getting out of the light or getting changed back into my original form. So I can't really make a big deal out of it."

"Regardless, have you ever thought of it as a potential weakness in battle?"

"What do ya mean?" Ranma asked cluelessly.

"What? You mean that you haven't thought about the fact that if you're splashed during a fight, it'll be over? " an incredulous Nabiki gaped at the young man.

"Not really, I mean, I've been training for ten years now to fight and the only time I've gotten wet during a fight is when I sweat. So I don't worry about it. It's not like water is going to become a large part of my life now, is it?"

Meanwhile, while Ranma was showing his amazing lack of foresight to Nabiki, Kasumi was answering a knock at the door.

"Hello, may I help you?"

"Good day, my name is Akira Mazumi and I am looking for Ranma Soatome. He won't be expecting me."

"He's in the dojo right now, would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, mam. If it is okay with you, it is very important that I speak with him, would you mind if I went out to see him?"

"Not at all. I'll take you to him."

The short walk was an interesting one for Akira, the unusual sight of a panda playing shogi with a middle aged man, gave him a moment's pause, but was merely surreal compared to some of the other things that Akira had seen in his lifetime. The rest of the home did seem normal enough, a very traditional Japanese home with a dojo attached.

The dojo itself wasn't overly impressive, but it was one of the nicer ones in the area.

The sounds of a conversation could be heard from behind the closed doors of the dojo. Kasumi stopped at the door, opened it slightly and called out "Ranma, you have a visitor." Then she opened the door the rest of the way and stepped aside for Akira to go through.

Akira thanked Kasumi and walked into the dojo and was welcomed by the sight of Ranma sitting in front of Nabiki, Ranma had a care free look on his face while Nabiki had one born of frustration.

"Good afternoon Ranma, young lady. My name is Akira Mazumi, I'm here regarding the China spring water that you came into contact with." The looks of surprise on both the teenager's faces was worth the long wait that Akira had to go through for the young man to appear.

It was, unsurprisingly, Nabiki who recovered first.

"I'm afraid that we don't know what you're talking about." She had reached out and gripped Ranma's arm, scooting closer to the pig tailed martial artist. Ranma was about to say something, but was cut off when Nabiki's grip suddenly became painful, and he wisely decided to keep his peace.

Akira had been watching the Tendo house for the past week, waiting for the Panda and girl to show up, and had caught on to how sharp the middle Tendo daughter could be.

"I assure you, miss Tendo, that I am not here to cause any problems. I've been sent as a representative of a global organization that young Ranma is now a part of."

"What are you talking about? I didn't join no organization." Ranma said.

"I'm afraid that the waters of Jusenkyo did this to you. You aren't the first to fall into that particular pool and you won't be the last. I'm here to pass on some information that will help you as well as make sure that you don't make a mistake."

"Okay, we're listening." Nabiki said in a guarded tone.

"First things first, I recommend that you call the number in the booklet as soon as we are done. I only have a little information to help you during your adjustment period. They will have far more to tell you." Akira started to sit across from the young couple.

"I'm sure that you have figured out that vampires are real by now, as demonstrated by the curse. There are a lot more out there in the world, and they won't hesitate to accept you as one of them if they catch you in your cursed form, so I would suggest not going out at night until after you've had a chance to become aquainted with the rest of your new family.

These vampires have a couple laws that they hold all vampires to with deadly force and will react badly to anybody breaking them. Only one of them really holds any meaning for you right now, mister Soatome. It's really simple, don't let anybody know that vampires exist. Don't leave hints, don't give clues, just don't. Miss Tendo, for the moment you don't have anything to fear, but if Ranma is caught and it is revealed that you, or your family knows about vampires, then your lives will be in danger.

Just a couple of things for you to know about your curse right now that I can share. As long as you remain cursed to shift, you won't have to worry about having to feed, drink blood, though you will find it satisfying. I recommend finding a butcher shop and purchasing pig's blood for a treat. The reason for this is that your vampiric body sustains itself on blood, blood that your mortal body is full of when you change. So you are essentially full when you shift. But be aware of how hungry you are when you change back to mortal, because you can kill yourself if you don't have enough blood to sustain your mortal body when you shift back.

There are some other quirks about your condition that make you and other Jusenkyo vampires different from the other vampires. I'm sure that you noticed how much sunlight burns, but doesn't kill. This is a direct result of the Jusenkyo shifting. If you should ever stay a vampire for any extended period of time, then that limited protection will go away and sunlight becomes just as deadly to you as it does to any other vampire.

I'll be around for a little while to make sure that you don't do anything stupid, you won't see me though. I am merely here to help protect the masquerade, what vampires call the deception they pull on humans to keep them ignorant about vampires. Do you have any questions?"

Both Nabiki and Ranma were looking as if they were in information overload. Their shocked expressions mirrored each others, and resembled fish as they gaped at the strange man who just unloaded everything upon them.

"Could you go over that one more time?" Ranma said in a weak voice. "I mean, I kinda knew that I wasn't the first one to fall in the pool, and that vampires existed, but to find out that they …"

"Aren't the monsters that modern media has made them out to be? I won't lie and tell you that they are all angels, there are some twisted bloodsuckers out there, but none of them are bent on world domination. At the very least, they're interested in feeding themselves, at the most trying to control everything for their own benefit. Just think of them as a darker Yakuza and you should be fine."

"Tell us about Ranma's curse again, particularly the parts about sunlight and blood." Nabiki demanded.

"If Ranma were to choose, he could remain a vampire for an extended period of time, however if he should do so, then the effects of the sun would become deadly instead of painful."

"Why would I ever want to stay like that for any amount of time!" Ranma almost yelled.

"I can't answer that for you, but it has happened in the past." Akira said with a straight face.

"How do you know all this and why should we believe you?" Nabiki said with a suspicious tone in her voice.

Akira sighed, "Because I work and live with another victim of that pool, and I've been to Jusenkyo myself."

"So you're like me? Splash, vampire?"

Akira laughed at that. "No, I wasn't lucky enough to fall into that pool. I really must be going now. Just remember that I'll be keeping an eye on you two, keep the true nature of your curse to yourselves and there won't be any problems. I'll help out where I can." Akira stood to leave.

Stopping at the door, he turned his head towards Ranma, giving Ranma what looked like an envious look before walking out. .

" What do you think, Nabiki?"

"I don't trust him, but what he said makes sense in a way, I mean about your curse. Honestly, if what he said is true, then I am both relieved and scared shitless at the same time."

"I know what you mean. But don't worry, I won't let anything happen to you or your family."

"Promise?"

"As a martial artist."

Inside the house, Akane was in her room, trying to make sense of what she over heard in the dojo. _Ranma's a Vampire?_

It was just after the sun had set, Akira had long ago left the Tendo household and he had been waiting for the sun to set ever since. Though it was only a couple of hours, it still seemed to take longer, but once it was down, he started to dial a number into his phone.

After several seconds, Akira finally got a connection. He started to speak rapid fire Mandirin.

" I've met with Soatome. I gave him the basics that he needs to survive, but there's a problem. Somebody already knows about his curse, but they seem to accept it without a problem, but that's not the real issue. He's only sixteen years old… Yes I know that doesn't really change anything, but…I know that…I understand…You've already got a call from them?…Yes, that's the girl's name…I can do that. Good bye Eve ."

Hanging up the phone, Akira finishes his meal of take out before going to take a shower. Afterwards, Akira sets up the apartment for his return later that night before splashing himself with cold water and padding out into the night.

Elsewhere a young man asks, "Excuse me, can you tell me the way to Furinkin High?"


	4. chapter 3

Vampire Chapter 3

Disclaimer: Ain't mine, no one's paying me. Only enjoyment here.

It had been a week since Akira's visit with Ranma and Nabiki, and things had fallen into something of a routine. With Nabiki's help, Ranma could avoid cold water during the day for the most part. The few times that water did find him, Nabiki had been near by with a thermos of hot water ready to dump on him. Ranma had started to spend part of the night in his female form just in the vain hope that water wouldn't seek him out if he spent time as a she.

The attacks on Akane didn't let up, but Akane seemed content to beat on something during the day. She would savagely pummel her way through the horde and then through Kuno, then she would come to class and either ignore or act coldly to Ranma. Ranma, for the most part, couldn't care less about Akane's thoughts about him.

Akane had thought long and hard about Ranma ever since she had listened in when the stranger had stopped by. She was scared of Ranma. The daily attacks of the Hentai horde and Kuno had left her with a rather negative impression of boys in general, thus she didn't and could probably never bring herself to trust any boy. But now she was living with a boy that turned into a female vampire with cold water. Akane had seen his skill before during the morning sparring with his father and knew that if he or she decided to do something, she wouldn't be able to stop him/her.

So it was that during the day when Ranma was male and in school or at the dojo, Akane would act cold and do her best to ignore the young man, but always had a water balloon handy just in case. After the sun went down, she would become more nervous around him, and would disappear entirely if he happened to get wet, locking herself in her room and surrounding herself with vampire wardings of crosses and wards.

It was now Friday and school had just let out for the day, Ranma was on his way out the doors to meet up with Nabiki and go home when his danger sense went off. Jumping up and out of the say of the rapidly descending umbrella, Ranma was left wondering at the huge crater that resulted from the umbrella attack.

"RANMA, BECAUSE OF YOU, I'VE SEEN HELL. PREPARE TO DIE!" Came the yell of a familiar, bandanna clad boy with fangs. Soon enough Ranma was ducking and weaving around the bandana boy's punches and kicks while trying to figure out who this guy was.

"Excuse me, but do I know you?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Ranma. I'm here to destroy your happiness."

"Hey Nabs. Am I happy?"

"Not that I've seen."

"Don't make light of me!"

"Tell what I did to get you so upset and we can talk this out."

"No! The time for talk has past, the time for revenge is now."

Ranma did some more ducking and dodging until finally he just jumped out of the way of the rampaging young man. Losing sight of Ranma, the bandana boy started to run in a random direction, yelling; "Come back here you coward, I'm not done with you yet."

The entire school body that stuck around to watch the fight just looked at the retreating back of the young man like he had grown a third head.

"Well, that was weird. I wonder who that was. Let's go home Nabs."

That night at the Tendo's.

"Ranma, you got a letter." Kasumi's voice called to the young martial artist.

"Thanks, Kasumi." Ranma took the letter and started to read it. As he progressed with the letter his face got a little darker.

"What is it Ranma?" Nabiki asked in a concerned voice.

"It's a challenge letter, I think that it's from the guy from today. Says here his name's Ryoga. Waitaminute! Ryoga, Ryoga,… I remember where I know him from."

"Do tell."

"It was before the trip to China. I was going to an all boys' school; lunch periods were pure chaos and pandemonium, with the lunch breads being tossed out to the crowd of boys to be fought over."

"Let me guess, you would always get the bread."

"Well, yeah. The first time it happened, I caught it out of midair and when I landed, Ryoga was standing there saying something about getting revenge, but I didn't really think anything of it. It was just bread. Then one day he challenged me to a duel."

"Oh my, Ranma did you know that this challenge was dated for yesterday?"

"Don't worry about it. I should still have a few days before he shows up, you see he has the worst direction sense I've ever seen on anybody."

"What happened at your duel?"

"It never happened. We were supposed to meet in the empty lot down the street from his house on Saturday, but he still hadn't shown up on Monday, that was when pop knocked me out and took me to China."

"Do you think that he was so upset over bread?" Nabiki asked.

"I don't know, it's the only reason I can think of."

Three days of waiting at the appointed place finally saw the return of Ryoga.

"So you finally decided to show up, Ranma?"

"What's he talking about? Ranma's been here for the past three days." A voice from the students called out only to be ignored by both combatants.

"Ryoga, I don't want to fight you. Here." Ranma threw something to the lost boy.

"What's this? Bread?"

"Here and here and here." Soon Ryoga was standing there with an armful of bread products with a darkening look on his face.

"You think this is about bread?"

"uhm, yeah."

"This hasn't been about bread for a long time, you ran out of our man to man duel and I followed you. Thanks to you, I've seen hell. PREPARE YOURSELF." With that Ryoga dropped the bread, pulled his umbrella and charged.

Ranma calmly backed out of the attack range of the thrusting umbrella before taking to the air with a powerful leap only to have Ryoga match him. Ryoga's strike in the air met with the same result as the rest of his attack, Ranma dodged it.

"What are you talking about?" Ranma asked with the same calm attitude.

"Do you truly believe that words can convey the depths of my suffering!" Ryoga opened his umbrella and sent it flying towards Ranma, who was momentarily distracted by dodging that as well, which Ryoga used to ensnare Ranma's wrist with one of his many bandanas.

"This will keep you from running away!"

Punch

Deflect

Kick

Kick

"Tell me something, how many bandanas are you wearing?"

"You won't make light of this Soatome!"

The pair danced the deadly dance with Ryoga throwing all of the punches and kicks and Ranma only deflecting and dodging as he wasn't fighting for his life. The bandana on his wrist keeping him from getting any distance between him and Ryoga.

Some yelling from the sideline where the umbrella finally came to a stop distracted Ranma enough for Ryoga to get a scratch in on a punch to his face, drawing blood.

_He cut me, well looks like I may have to get serious._

Ranma waited for Ryoga's next punch before sending himself down between his adversary's legs and up to latch onto his shoulders with his feet, pulling his right hand down with Ranma, between his legs. The end result was Ryoga on his knees with his head down while Ranma was perched up on his back smirking like the cat that caught the canary.

"You…dare…try to push me TO MY KNEES?" In remarkable display of balance and upper body strength, Ryoga lifted himself and Ranma up with one arm before launching into the air like a rocket. He attempted to continue to kick at Ranma only to have Ranma dodge and then power kick him out into the crowd. Ranma was quickly behind Ryoga kicking and dodging, but it didn't stop Ryoga from reaching his umbrella.

"Eat this!" The umbrella was thrust at the advancing Ranma who pivoted while kicking Ryoga in the jaw, the umbrella ripped the front of Ranma's shirt, leaving his chest bared.

"This was my favorite shirt!"

"This is war! Don't act like a GIRL!"

Ranma had been calm, or at least cool up until this point. Being called a girl was one of his buttons, especially after Jusenkyo. Ranma's expression started to match Ryoga's in terms of anger.

Ranma launched into the most vicious kicks and attacks he knew.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A GIRL?"

"Whoa!"

The force of the attack sent the pair over the fence of the school yard they were fighting in. Neither were paying attention of where they were going.

"WELL? WHO ARE YOU CALLING A GIRL!"

Ranma had Ryoga on the defensive for the first time in the fight, and it was obvious that Ranma could have had him there any time that he wanted. The fight would have been over if the kick that Ranma threw at Ryoga had landed, but Ryoga flew out of the way, and the water fountain behind him crumbled under the attack.

Nabiki saw the pillar of water rise from behind the trees where the fight was now taking place. _Oh shit_. Was all she thought before making her legs move to get back to the fight before something regrettable happens. The thermos in her hand suddenly took more meaning than just a precaution.

Ryoga managed to avoid getting wet by opening his umbrella and blocking all the water that came his way. Ranma was not so lucky. Unseen by Ryoga and the rest of the class the water hit Ranma with enough force to send him flying into the shadows of one of the nearby trees.

Ranma's female form bonelessly landed in the shadows, dripping wet, and not getting up. After coming to a stop, the red head curled up into a fetal position and remained there, shuddering slightly as if in pain.

The water died down, and Ryoga was looking for his missing opponent, eager to finish this fight. Scanning the area, he noticed that the school crowd had finally caught up with the fight. Ryoga continued to look for his black haired opponent, ignoring everybody else, when he saw the red shirt of Ranma.

Nabiki was a little confused, she knew that Ranma was at the middle of the pillar of water, was probably responsible for it, yet he wasn't screaming in pain like last time. She caught up with the rest of the people from school surrounding Ryoga, and started to push her way through, when she saw that her worst fears were coming true.

Ryoga was standing over the cowering form of Ranma, smirking at his fallen foe, that is, until he noticed the red hair. Ryoga bent down, reached out and took Ranma's chin into his hand to better look at the girl in his mortal enemy's clothing. The look on Ranma's face conveyed a painful unconsciousness that would last.

It was at this point that Nabiki was able to get close enough to throw the contents of her thermos out and onto the body of Ranma. Ranma awoke with Ryoga holding his chin with a stunned look on his face. Ranma didn't waste any time to question what happened and just reacted to the sight of Ryoga with a series of punches, driving Ryoga back.

"So, now you know about my curse. Do you think that I haven't seen hell because of it? Aren't you going to make fun of me now?"

Ryoga stood there stunned, but then started to chuckle, then laugh, then cackle madly. "You say you're cursed? You don't know the meaning of the word. Prepare yourself." Ryoga pulled off several bandanas and tossed them into the air where they became discs and flew towards Ranma.

Ranma dodged them all, but not before one ripped his shirt again. Next to him, a bandana had gouged into a tree before embedding itself there. He just happened to notice Akane standing at the edge of the crowd as well as the stray bandanas that were headed her way. Without thinking or pausing, Ranma bolted to save his fiancé's sister.

Ranma was just able to reach her by tackling her and knocking her to the ground as the bandanas whizzed right through the spot where her neck would have been, a fact that was not lost on the martial artist or Nabiki, but went unnoticed by Akane.

"What are you doing? Are you trying to kill somebody?" Ranma yelled at his opponent after getting up. Akane got up as well, a little pale.

"Yes! You! DIE!" Ryoga let loose with another barrage of bandanas and tossed his umbrella at Ranma for good measure. Ranma was a little stuck, because he had put himself between Akane and Ryoga on purpose and if he moved to dodge, everything would just hit her. Without thinking, he kicked the umbrella up, caught it, and used it as a shield as he grabbed Akane by the waist and jumped up with both to remove her from danger.

"Hang on Akane!"

"Aaaaaa!"

"Running away you coward!"

Akane was not comfortable being held by Ranma, and squirmed to get out of his grasp the entire time. When he finally stopped jumping, landing on a small open building, she was doing her best to get away from him and started to scream,

"DON'T TOUCH ME YOU PERVERTED FREAK!"

SLAP

Ranma was left with both hurt feelings and a throbbing cheek as well as confusion over why Akane reacted like that as she stalked off.

Ryoga saw Ranma standing on the building and wasted no time in pulling off his belt and using a special technique to make the belt act like a sword and cut through the support beam. The building buckled, and Ranma again wasted no time in scooping up Akane so that she wouldn't be harmed.

Akane didn't react well to being carried again by Ranma and was again struggling against him as if her life depended on it. Ryoga was now using his belt like a whip and snagged the umbrella that Ranma had managed to get in the way of Ryoga's weapon. The umbrella was cut in half by and was rendered useless.

Akane broke away from Ranma as they landed and started to run. Ranma made to go after her, a concerned look on his face.

"Ignore me will you!" Ryoga roared and whipped his belt out to attack Ranma with deadly intent.

"Give it a rest!" Ranma yelled back, kicking the weapon out of Ryoga's hand, it went flying up into the air in a manner not like a buzzsaw.

Ranma ran up to Akane, yelling her name, trying to get her attention.

She stopped and turned around yelling.

"I DON'T WANT TO KNOW YOU. I NEVER WANT YOU TO TOUCH ME YOU PERVERTED BLOOD…" The rest of her sentence was lost as the buzzsaw belt came down and lopped off the long hair off of Akane's head. Had she not turned around, it would have hit her.

The tension of that moment was drawn out as the rest of the school crowd caught up with the combatants. Nabiki noted the condition of her sister's hair, but hadn't seen how it had happened. She was relieved to see that Ranma and Ryoga did seem to call of hostilities in light of what just happened. As she got closer she could hear Ranma's voice.

"If it will make you feel better you can hit me."

"You may hit me, too." Ryoga said. It seemed that vengance against Ranma wasn't the only thing that he focused on.

Nabiki wasn't surprised to see Akane lay into both Ranma and Ryoga with a series of slaps that left both their cheeks bright red. Akane then stalked off.

"Agreeable girl, isn't she." Was all that Ryoga had to say.

Author's notes:

I thought that I would take this opportunity to respond to some of the reviews that I've gotten so far.

Mordamir

Hey, nice piece of work you have here. I mean, this is an issue that already appeared in other Ranma fics, but you managed to make it original. Congratulations on that.

Anyway, I guess this chapter didn't explain all that you wanted about vampires and all, like, how much time it would be considered extended periods?

Is this a crossover with the RPG game?

Mordamir

Thank you,

No, there's going to be another big exposition chapter coming up again to explain the rest of what I want to tell about vampires. It's coming up soon.

Yes this is a crossover with the RPG game and once I come up to a certain point, I'll be posting the notes that I wrote up that pertain to the RPG.

Jonakhensu

Is the name of the handbook "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Spring of Drowned Vampire Girl"?

I'm glad that somebody caught that reference, and no it isn't, it just felt right to put that there.

Dassadec

Japanese telephone numbers have eight digits unlike most of the world that has seven digits in a telephone number.

I'll be the first to admit a certain ignorance to Japanese culture and the little details that pertain to that culture, like how many numbers make up a Japanese telephone number. I am relieved that this is the only hole you've found in my story and that you enjoy it enough to point it out to me.

Wonderbee31

2005-04-16

ch 3, signed

Interesting, and I wonder how Akane'll react now, will she try to "save" Nabiki, or help them? Will Akira be able to help out Ranma, or will one of those darker vampires decide to try and hurt Ranma through his new family?

Innortal

Great job. I love the tension building up. If it looks and is planned to be a R/N matchup, send a link to , so they can post it there.

Great job. I love how the cliffhanger is set up. I almost wonder if Ryoga's curse will be different. Keep going.

Innortal

The link never showed up, so could you send me a copy of it or something.

I would like to thank everybody that has reviewed so far and I urge you to continue reading. I have a definite plan for the future of the series up to a certain point and I am open to some suggestions for after that point. I'm trying to keep the story close to the original for now, with some major differences where it counts. But the story will take a much darker tone later on.

Thanks again.


	5. chapter 4

Vampire Chapter four.

J.W. Leonard

Nabiki was not a happy person. She wasn't happy for several reasons; the chief among them was that she had the strong suspicion that her sister had nearly been killed by an out of control martial artist. If her hair was any indication, then it had been a close call.

The other reasons why she was upset was she was just now seeing something that she should have spotted weeks ago. During the battle with Ryoga, Akane had somehow gotten caught in the crossfire, and it had taken everything in Ranma's ability to keep the girl safe. But what upset Nabiki wasn't that her sister had gotten involved, but what she had yelled out at Ranma while he was trying to keep her from harm.

Whatever it was that Akane had said to Ranma had done more damage than what any of Ryoga's punches could do. All the time that Nabiki had spent, getting Ranma to open up to her seemed to disappear and go to waste as Ranma closed back up. It wasn't noticeable in his demeanor, but when Nabiki looked into his eyes, she could see the pain that Akane had caused.

When Ranma had arrived he was lonely, scared, and defensive. Over the weeks of constant talking, he had gradually opened up and Nabiki was getting to know the true Ranma beneath the mask. Now that mask was back up, firmly in place. Because of that, he was in the yard doing katas as if they were his lifeline, trying to lose himself in the physical exertion.

Nabiki knew that they would talk about what happened, but first she had to find out why Akane had reacted the way she did.

Nabiki marched up to Akane's door and barely gave a knock before opening the door and walking in. The words on Nabiki's lips died when she saw the condition of her younger sister's room. Everything that was there before was still there, but was now covered in one form of Shinto ward or another. There were also crosses and garlic hanging or lying around the room. Akane was sitting at her desk with a shocked look on her face as her hands were absently playing with her new shortened hair.

Akane gave a baleful look to Nabiki before asking, "What do you want?"

"Sis, what is all of this?" Nabiki asked in a small voice.

"This is just in case that bloodsucking pervert ever gets the idea to come into my room." Akane said with no small amount of venom.

Nabiki was taken aback by her sister's words. _She knows. Shit, so much for breaking it to the family gently. I wonder how much damage control needs to be done._

Sighing, Nabiki closed the door to Akane's room and leveled her best glare at her younger sister.

"It's past time for us to have a heart to heart about Ranma, sister." Nabiki said in an authoritive voice she reserved for people who didn't pay up on a bet. "I take it that you found out the rest of Ranma's curse." She indicated the crosses.

Akane was shocked by her sister's tone, Nabiki had never spoken to her like this and the only time she heard this tone was in school.

"So what are you afraid of? Are you afraid that Ranma's going to get hungry one night and sneak into your room?"

"Yes."

"What? How can you say that? He wouldn't…"

"He's a boy! All boys are perverts! He's better than I am, he could beat me easily. Out of all the boys at school that fight me every morning, he's the only one that could beat me and fulfill Kuno's stupid proclamation. What's worse is that he's a worse freak than Kuno, that curse only proves it. I know what vampires do! I've seen the movies. Ranma could do anything he wanted to me and I feel powerless to stop him, er her."

Nabiki could only look at her sister in dumbfounded shock. Her mind trying to work its way around what Akane just said.

"Is that why you avoid Ranma like the plague? Akane, he's not like that. I mean, he's a boy for the most part, but he's a martial artist! He follows the Code, you know? The one we were all taught when we were all practicing. 'It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak.' And thanks to his over inflated ego, and his up bringing, he includes us in that category."

"He's not a martial artist! He's a monster!"

"How can you say that? What has he ever done to you to make you think that?"

"He's a boy!"

"You're impossible! Leave him alone and he won't do anything. Can you understand that?" Nabiki didn't wait for Akane's answer, instead she slammed her door behind as she left the room.

"Nabiki! You have a letter." Kasumi's voice was heard from the front door.

Nabiki glared at her younger sister. "We'll finish this later." Nabiki promised before leaving Akane's room to collect the letter from Kasumi.

Nabiki held a scowl on her face as she went down the stairs to where Kasumi was. Kasumi had a motherly smile on her face as she prepared the night's meal. Nabiki schooled her features before getting Kasumi's attention; it wouldn't do to let Kasumi that there was any trouble between the sisters. She had played the role of motherly peacekeeper too many times in Nabiki's opinion, and she didn't want to air some of the secrets that the current conflict was about.

"You said I had a letter?"

"Yes, here it is." Kasumi handed Nabiki a very nice white envelope that was stiff, indicating that it was filled with a little more than just a letter.

"I don't know anybody in Hong Kong." Nabiki said, reading the return address before opening it and pulling everything out. The contents of the envelope amounted to a letter on very nice paper, and two round trip airplane tickets. Nabiki's eyes widened at that and quickly moved up to her room for some privacy while calling thanks to Kasumi.

Shutting and locking her door before unfolding the letter, Nabiki was a little anxious of what she would find in the message.

'_Nabiki Tendo, _

_You and your fiancé are cordially invited to attend a special event to be held in honor of Ranma Soatome. This event is directly tied to his experience with spring water from China, and it is highly advisable for both of you to attend. _

_You should find within two round trip tickets to Hong Kong, as well as a brochure to be used as a cover to explain the trip to your friends and family. Since the nature of this event is sensitive, I ask that you not reveal the truth of the tickets or the purpose of this trip._

_The spring water that young Soatome had the misfortune to fall into has a long and terrible history and has claimed many victims over the years. It has become a tradition for the victims to gather when a new victim is claimed by that pool and do our best to help them adjust to life with it, as well as share our experiences in dealing with the curse. _

_Normally, we do not invite those who have not been touched by the waters, but since you have been a stable influence on young Soatome at such a turbulent time in his life, I have decided that you would do well to hear what we have to tell him. If you are going to play an important role in his life, then it would be best if you are as prepared as possible for what the curse means. _

_Sincerely_

_Eve_

Nabiki set the letter down and ruffled through the rest of the contents of the envelope, sure enough, a second letter was within, a small 'you're a winner' letter of some ridiculous contest that could have been entered anywhere.

Looking at the tickets, she noted that the trip would not interfere with school and was scheduled for this weekend. This gave them a little time to prepare. Nabiki hid everything away, except the contest winner announcement, before going out to talk to Ranma.

Ranma was confused, hurt, and a little upset. During the fight with Ryoga, Ranma had been forced to saved Akane's life or at least her physical well being from the reckless attacks by the lost boy. When he had, she acted as he was attacking her, she was afraid of him, called him a freak in front of everybody. If it hadn't been for the past week of opening up and talking to Nabiki, then Akane's verbal assaults would have crushed him and sent him into a spiral of depression.

Ever since the curse, his sense of worth had all but been eradicated, to go from a man among men to a girl with a splash of cold water would have been enough to shake his world view, but to also turn into a vampire, a blood sucking monster that couldn't stand the rays of the sun, it had almost been enough for him to consider ritual suicide to reclaim the honor he thought that he had lost over the curse.

He had made a vow to himself to never succumb to the curse, to never give in to whatever unnatural hunger the curse brought out in him.

Two weeks in China nearly had him break that promise. By the time he had arrived at the Tendo Dojo, he was fully immersed in a pool of his own self-loathing and depression as was quickly drowning in it with the weight of the imagined insults and reactions that he would face if his secret ever came out. Akane's verbal assault that first night had only served to weigh him down even further. The bottom of that pool held a tanto blade, the blade for ritual suicide.

It's ironic that Akane's offer of friendship was a life preserver to the rescue boat of Nabiki's acceptance of who and what Ranma was. In the short time that Ranma and Nabiki had been fiancés, Ranma's self worth had rebuilt itself to where it once was, his self confidence was no longer a forced charade, and his depression over his curse, while greatly reduced, was now manageable instead of drowning.

Akane had managed to rattle his foundations with her words and reactions to him during the fight.

So Ranma was in the dojo, doing as many katas as he could do while trying to regain his center and think his way through what made Akane so afraid of him.

Ranma was not a smart boy; this was due to mainly upbringing1, and a general lack of education. Ranma wasn't stupid, merely ignorant. His ignorance far outweighed everything else he knew, so it wouldn't be a surprise to say that he hadn't figured it out by the time that Nabiki came into the dojo with a smile on her face and a piece of paper in her hand.

"I hope that you didn't have any plans for this weekend, Ranma." Nabiki smirked.

While Nabiki gave Ranma the rough details of the travel plans, there was another young man wondering out in the wilderness searching for the Tendo dojo.

It was during the evening meal that things started to look up for Ranma. With advice from Nabiki, after being talked to until he responded, Ranma was able to approach Akane and apologize to her. Ranma hadn't thought that he had done anything to warrant an apology and he voiced this opinion out loud to Nabiki. Nabiki then calmly told Ranma why he should do so to Akane, it wasn't that he did anything wrong, but it was more to calm the beast.

It hadn't gone as well as Ranma or Nabiki had hoped, Akane had tried to hit Ranma for even talking to her, but a passing Kasumi who had seen and heard Ranma's apology stepped in and prevented the youngest from adding some lumps to Ranma's head.

Akane was then reluctantly forced to accept the apology, and play nice for the evening.

Akane's new haircut had raised some eyebrows at the dinner table, nothing like Kasumi's initial response, but was accepted with little trouble.

Dinner was a chaotic affair, with Genma and Ranma treating it as a training exercise, Ranma had made a point to keep the liquids as far away from him as possible. Akane took her usual seat, as far away as Ranma and Nabiki as possible, but at least she was being sociable. Everybody else tried to enjoy the meal as much as they could.

It wasn't until dinner had started to settle down, the point where everybody isn't eating anymore but haven't excused themselves from the table, when Nabiki decided to make her announcement.

"Daddy, I won a drawing and I received the prize today in the mail." Nabiki began.

"That's good dear, what is it?"

"An all expense paid trip to Hong Kong for the weekend for two."

"Oh my! How wonderful." Kasumi gushed.

"Who are you planning on taking with you?"

"Ranma."

Soun and Genma flashed, what they thought was a sly look, to each other. Grinning like a cat who caught the mouse. A plan was formed between the two in that one look. However, they were a bit obvious with it, so it did not go unnoticed.

"I think that would make a wonderful honeymo…" Soun started to say while Genma started to go to work on his son.

"Boy! Its time for you to fulfill the Promise betw…"

They were silenced by the look in Nabiki's eyes and the slamming of her hands on the table.

"I have agreed to be Ranma's fiancé for the sake of family honor, but we will be married when we are ready for it. Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

"ehr. Perfectly daughter." Soun sweated.

The rest of dinner past without incident except for one instance of Ranma trying to approach Akane, stuttering an apology. Akane only stopped and looked at Ranma as if he had grown a second head before turning and stalking back up to her room in a huff.

Nabiki watched the interaction with a little trepidation, while she was relieved that Akane didn't make a scene, the hurt look on Ranma's face pulled at her. She came up to him and gathered him into her arms.

"I don't understand…"

"It's okay, Ranma."

A thunderstorm was raging late in the night, occasional lightning strikes illuminating the Nerima neighborhood. A strong silhouette of a man with a large umbrella and a large backpack could be seen with each flash as he approached his final destination, the Tendo Dojo.

Inside the Tendo household, everybody was asleep. Ranma was sleeping, sprawled out in the guest room with his father, the panda, oblivious to the world. He didn't even notice the presence of Ryoga as he stood over his hated foe.

"Wake up Ranma. It's me Ryoga" No response from Ranma.

"Fight me! Hey Ranma!" Still no response.

"Wake up Ranma!" Ryoga launches a punch at Ranma's sleeping head. Unconsciously, Ranma twists out of the way of the descending fist, dodging it, but he pillow wasn't so lucky. Ryoga's second punch met with the bedding.

"WAKE UP DAMNIT!"

Genma unceremoniously chucked both Ranma and Ryoga out the window and threw a sign out with them that read Quiet!

Ranma landed in the koi pond sputtering in confusion. Last he knew, he was having a nice dream about training, now he was a she, drenched to the bone, and inhaling pond water. Standing up, she noticed Ryoga standing at the edge of the pool holding his umbrella up. To say that Ranma was a little upset would be an understatement.

"Ryoga! It's the middle of the night. What are you doing?"

"Silence! Does revenge know night or day!"

"This again. Would you cut this out? You've got nothing to get revenge for!"

"I'll say one thing…before I send you to Hell. When you ran out on our duel. I followed you…ALL THE WAY TO CHINA!"

"…"

"Don't tell me you went to Jusenkyo and that you change into something when you get wet!"

"SILENCE!" Ryoga screamed as he jumped to attack. "THE TIME FOR WORDS HAS PAST!"

Inside, Nabiki was woken up by the noise in the yard. _What the hell?_ She got out to investigate after getting a robe on. She met the rest of her sisters outside near the stairs.

"Do you think that it's a burglar?" Kasumi fearfully asked.

"If it is, he'll regret it." Akane announced quietly, brandishing a wooden sword.

Kasumi looked at Akane like she was crazy, took the sword from her hands and handed her a large weight. Hefting it like a champ, she looked out and took aim at the combating couple. Choosing her target, she swung it like an Olympic athlete and let the heavy weight fly.

The heavy weight flew through the rain and straight towards the unsuspecting target and struck the back of a head.

Ryoga had always been a martial artist, even before he met Ranma and subsequently went on an inadvertent training trip to China. He prided himself on being one of the best and could always sense when he was in danger. So it came as a surprise to him when a piece of exercise equipment came flying into the fight and struck Ranma in the back of her head. She went down hard.

Akane smirked as she saw that she had hit her intended target, then schooled her face and put her amateur acting skills to work. "Did I get him?"

"I don't know, it's hard to see." Nabiki said, squinting into the gloom of the yard. Lightning flashed, giving her a frightening view of Ryoga standing over a crumpled Ranma.

She gasped, "Shit, you hit Ranma."

Ranma was disoriented, confused, and hurt. She was fairly certain that she had a concussion from whatever had beamed her in the back of her head. After landing, badly, after getting hit, she started to get up or at least try to. It was on unsteady legs that Ranma was able to stand up again to face Ryoga.

Ryoga waited patiently for Ranma to stand up again. He may have wanted the pig tailed martial artist dead for all of the wrongs he committed against him, but he was going to face him with honor. So once Ranma was looking as if she was ready to fight again, Ryoga sent a powerful punch towards Ranma.

Ranma was a martial arts prodigy. For the past ten years, all that Ranma did was fight or train. He was now up to the point of where his body was considered a weapon under the right circumstances. One thing about many martial artists is that they will unconsciously defend themselves from attack, usually in a grapple move or something incapacitating, thus Ranma's dodging from before, and now this. Ranma's good nature had prevented him from inflicting bodily harm on his opponents before, but now he was hurt and seriously wanted to go back to bed, not to mention his new status as a predator of the night.

Without consciously thinking about it, Ranma grappled the blow instead of deflecting or dodging it, then proceeded to apply a sudden large amount of pressure to the captured limb.

With a loud SNAP, Ryoga's arm took a new and interesting shape. Ryoga dropped his umbrella in shock and was able to hop over the fence with a scream of pain. Ranma was left behind with a dazed look in her eyes.

Under the house, cat's eyes witnessed the entire scene.

Ranma shook her head and cleared it of the fog that took up residence after the blow from the flying weight and wondered where Ryoga disappeared too. She was about to jump the fence and search for him when she heard Nabiki's voice calling her inside. Her head still aching, she went inside and out of the rain.

By the time that Ranma stepped into the house and out of the rain, Akane was already back up in the safety of her room. Nabiki was waiting for him with a towel.

"Was that Ryoga? What were you doing with him at this time of night?" Nabiki asked.

"Fighting. He started it though." Ranma said tiredly.

"How's your head?" Nabiki started to examine the slowly toweling off red head. Running her fingers through Ranma's red hair looking for a bump or even blood.

"Okay now, but what happened?

"Akane threw a weight with the intent of hitting Ryoga, we thought he was a burglar, and hit you instead. What happened to Ryoga?"

"Not sure. Everything is a little fuzzy after getting my head caved in, but I think that I broke one of his arms. He ran off after that." Ranma had poured himself a glass of hot water and was about to dump it on himself. "If it wasn't for this massive headache, I'd go out and search for him to make sure he's okay, but I just want to get back to bed. I'll see you in the morning." With that, Ranma dumped the contents onto her head and rejoined the male species, his headache, which had been bearable, was now only slightly worse. He staggered up to his room and shut the door. He was asleep before he found his pillow.

Author's Notes:

Finally, the last chapter before I start to get into the meat of this story and the main changes that I have planned for the story. Things have been tight in terms of time for me because of finals at College, but I wrote a little each night and now this is the culmination of my hard work.

1. Genma as his only role model.


	6. chapter 5

Vampire Chapter Five Hong Kong

"He did WHAT?…No, that won't be necessary, I just can't believe that somebody would be that…that…Well, I wouldn't have put it that way, but yeah…. I see, would you please fax me that information?…I can do that for you…Pleasure doing business with you." Akira hung up his phone and waited for the fax machine to start printing pages. It was ugly, but it was what Eve had asked for, and she was going to get it.

Ranma's head was still a little tender from the hit that he had taken a few days ago during Ryoga's nocturnal visit. Considering what he had been hit with, he thought himself lucky to be breathing. He wasn't about to waste that breath in a complaint about his aching head when he had more important things to complain about.

"What did you do that for?" Akane had gotten into the habit of being exceedingly careless when it came to cold water during the daylight hours around Ranma. The worst part was that she feigned ignorance whenever confronted with it.

"I don't know why you're so worked up over a few accidents, it's not like it can kill you." Akane's innocent looking expression was infuriating to the young martial artist. He knew that she was doing this on purpose, but when pressed, he couldn't come up with a believable argument for his story.

"No, it merely hurts like hell!" Shouting hadn't worked yet, but Ranma was hopeful that if he pumped the volume loud enough, it would reach the brain of the youngest Tendo. Akane merely acted as if she hadn't heard him as she made her way to school.

"Let it go, Saotome." Nabiki had been an ever-present presence with a handy thermos on hand whenever Akane had gotten splashy. "Akane's can't be reasoned with right now, believe me, I tried. The best we can do right now is ride it out."

Sighing, Ranma joined his fiancé as they made their way to school. By the time that they got there, Ranma was only damp instead of soggy. Akane hadn't managed to splash Ranma during the school day yet. This was mostly due to Ranma being exceptionally paranoid during that time and sitting as far away from her as possible during school.

Akane would disappear after school and wouldn't come home until Kasumi had finished making dinner. Considering her new hobby, this suited Ranma just fine. Akane would rush in, rush through dinner, then rush upstairs, spending as little time as possible around Ranma during the night.

Ranma and Nabiki were going to be leaving for Hong Kong later that afternoon; he couldn't say that he was ready for it. Nabiki had only just told him what the true purpose of the trip was going to be that morning on the way to school, for him to learn about his curse from others.

He was having mixed feelings about that, on one hand, he wanted to have as little to do with his curse as possible, something that Akane was not making easy for him to do. On the other hand, it would be nice to talk to somebody about it that knew what he was going through. Maybe they would know of a cure.

Ranma had packed his meager wardrobe to go with him for the trip and was patiently waiting for Nabiki to finish her packing. He was suspicious that Nabiki might be packing everything that she owned for the next few days. So he was passing his time by sparring with his pops.

"You've been slacking off, boy." The least of Genma's barbs and insults that have been a part of Ranma's training since he could remember and such they didn't have much affect on him anymore. Except a few insults that had taken a new more personal meaning for Ranma. "You're fighting like a girl!" Insults like that one.

Their sparring sessions were usually held in the dojo during the day, away from any water, like the koi pond. While the dojo was built for martial arts, it wasn't built for the type of martial arts that the Saotome's used. The first few times they had sparred, it was cut off early when one of them would bounce of the ceiling with their head.

If it weren't for his curse, and the effects of sunlight on his cursed form, Ranma and Genma would be outside fighting over the koi pond. Not for the threat of water, but for the open air. The Saotome School of martial arts specialized in mid air combat and both Ranma and Genma could get some serious air.

They weren't in the dojo this time; they were trying out the roof, flying about as if the sky was their battleground. Genma's comments did have their desired result in making the mid air pigtailed martial artist angry, thus sloppy, and open for his attack. Once Ranma picked himself up from where he had landed, he noted that he had only just missed the koi pond.

Genma's respite wasn't long lived as Ranma jumped back into the fray. The sounds of renewed fighting, just a level above sparring, filtered into the house from above. Nabiki was busy trying to figure out what outfits she wanted to bring with her.

Fifteen minutes later, she was done packing and was waiting for Ranma to get done changing out of his now dirty clothes. The family was gathered at the door to see the pair off, even Akane. The cab that Nabiki had called for pulled up just as Ranma was walking down the stairs.

Soun and Genma wasted no time in cornering the boy before he left.

"You won't let anything happen to my little girl, won't you?" Soun pleaded with Ranma, on the verge of a real cry.

"Don't worry Tendo, my boy will take real good care your daughter." The leer implied in that statement left Ranma a little uncomfortable. That and the nudges and winks that his father was giving him were going completely over his head.

"Ranma, we have to get to get going!" Nabiki called from the front door.

"Gottagoseeya!" Ranma wasted no time in disentangling himself from the fathers and joining Nabiki by the cab. Nabiki was busy giving her sisters some final goodbyes and hugs before climbing into the cab. Ranma did the same for Kasumi, and gave Akane a wide berth while she glared daggers at him.

The ride to the airport was uneventful, if long. Once they arrived at the Tokyo International, they went through check in and security with little hassle, and sat in the waiting area of the gate for the next half hour.

They didn't talk much while they sat. Ranma was sprawled out with his arms out over the backs of the seats while Nabiki was sitting beside him, not as comfortably as Ranma, and not leaning against him. They were comfortably silent.

Nabiki was nudged awake by Ranma as he started to gather their bags as they were called to board the plane.

They soon got seated on the plane; Ranma in the window seat and Nabiki took the seat next to him, leaving the aisle seat open. A few minutes pass while more passengers filtered into the passenger cabin and Ranma and Nabiki settle in.

"Hi, guys." Akira slumped into the uncomfortable aisle seat, his wiry frame finding plenty of room in the seat.

Both Ranma and Nabiki looked at Akira like they had never seen him before, before the light of recognition came shown in Nabiki's eyes.

"You know, I really shouldn't be surprised that you're here" Nabiki sighed.

"Who's this?" Ranma asked cluelessly.

"If I didn't know how smart you could actually be, I would be afraid for your survival in the future." Akira said in a serious tone and giving Ranma hooded stare.

"What do ya mean by that?"

"I mean, Ranma, that after having watching you for the past few weeks, I know that you are an incredibly smart young man that is totally focused on martial arts. But for what you are about to encounter, you're going to have to bend your intellect to something a bit broader than just martial arts. Say, like being able to remember somebody that you met two weeks ago."

"As much as I will enjoy listening to you two bicker, settle." Nabiki cut Ranma off before he could get started. "Now, what are you doing here, Akira? I doubt it's to wish us a fair trip."

"You're right. Sorry Ranma, I didn't mean to insult you. I'm here as an escort."

"An escort? Why would we need that?" Nabiki placed her hand on Ranma's and gave him a look that said to let her do the talking.

"Because I have the schedule for your weekend in Hong Kong, would you like to hear it?"

"Suuuuure." Nabiki said carefully.

"Okay, first of all, I work with Eve, remember. We do this every time somebody with your condition pops up, Ranma. You are going to be meeting with the extended family and they are going to share with you their experiences of dealing with it. It's something of a tradition among us. We'll be doing that after we land."

"Oh, okay."

"If you don't mind, wake me up when we land. I haven't gotten a good sleep since I got to Tokyo." Akira yawned and got settled into his seat for a nap.

Ranma and Nabiki looked at each other before shrugging and getting back to their own devices. Ranma couldn't be pulled away from the window as the airplane taxied out to the airstrip and waited its turn to accelerate and fly.

It was roughly a two hour flight from Tokyo to Hong Kong, most of it saw Ranma looking out the window and down on the faraway land and clouds. Nabiki, for her part, did her best to follow Akira's example and get what little rest she could.

Akira's attitude did not reflect accurately upon his appearance, while he acted as if he were forty, his appearance often got him carded when he wanted to smoke or drink.

After landing and getting what luggage Nabiki had, Akira took them to his car, which was parked in the long-term parking. It was a nice car, just one step short of being a sports car, but it wasn't an expensive vehicle.

It wasn't late in the day, probably around six in the afternoon. Traffic wasn't heavy while Akira drove them to their destination. For Ranma, this was a day of firsts, he had never been in an airplane, and he had never been in a car either. During the ten-year training trip, Genma and Ranma had either walked, ran, or swam wherever they were going. All in the name of training.

As a result, Ranma was having the time of his life.

Nabiki, however, was a little more focused on the matter at hand. Questions ran through her mind on the nature of the curse and how they would affect Ranma in the long run, and consequently, affect her. Nabiki was also excited because she was in Hong Kong, one of the biggest financial cities in the world.

Hong Kong was an entire island city of financial opportunities. Whether it was big corporation businesses or under city back alley deals, there was very little that didn't involve money. Nabiki had enough self-control not to drool at the thought of making a name for herself in this world.

They drove for over an hour, going past the harbor on the freeway and through the center of the sprawling metropolis until they pulled off and started to drive away from the tall buildings. They didn't stop until they arrived a gated community.

The house they finally stopped at was a large one. It was easily twice the size of the Tendo Dojo and in better condition. Several vehicles were already parked out front, rental logos apparent on many of them.

"Looks like a few have already arrived, hopefully somebody has started dinner." Akira said as he parked the car. "Before we go in, a couple of things that you should know, everybody here is your friend. You won't have to worry about your safety. Also, they are here for your benefit, Ranma. Please don't insult any of them."

"Don't worry, I'll keep him in line." Nabiki squeezed Ranma's hand.

"Okay guys, let's not keep them waiting."

The interior of the house was nice in a western theme with dark wood highlights. Sounds of conversation could be heard deeper into the house.

"Just set your bags down here, I'll take care of them later. I'll see that dinner is ready, go ahead and join the group." Akira gestured towards the sounds of conversation, while he headed off into another direction.

Ranma and Nabiki headed down the hallway and into a large study area. The sounds of conversation quickly silenced as the two entered the room.

Ranma and Nabiki found themselves the center of attention of a small crowd of men and women in the study. Ranma's analytical mind counted eight people, three men and five women, and had determined that at least two of the men had some training in the Art in the few seconds before one of the women stepped forward and said to both of them…

"Welcome to the family."

Ranma was dumbfounded, he never thought that so many people could have fallen into the vampire spring; most of the people there were only just older than he was. After the introductions were out of the way, Ranma was seated and handed a drink while started to talk to him.

"It's a bit overwhelming, isn't it?" The only American in the group, Alex, said as he took a seat next to Ranma. His Japanese accented slightly as he spoke, but was better than many natives. "I remember the time that I fell into that damn pool. I think I speak for all of us when I say that the most painful thing is the sun on our cursed forms."

"You mean everybody here is cursed like me?"

"No, not every one. Some of us brought our wives or husbands, those that know of the curse, and at least one of us got lucky, and wasn't cursed with a vampire pool." Alex said, giving a meaningful look at Akira.

"What pool did he fall into?"

"Spring of drowned cat." Alex didn't notice Ranma tense up, so he continued on. "Damn fool started working for Eve and found out about Jusenkyo, he went there in search of the vampire pool and ended up falling into another one. Why anyone would want any curse is beyond me."

"Y.Yeah…" Ranma said nervously, giving Akira a wary glance.

"Enough about him, I'm sure that you have a few questions for us before we get started telling you what we know."

"Uhm…is there a cure?"

"No, at least not one that we found that works the way you want it too." Alex said in a serious tone.

"There are several ways to 'cure' the curse, but each one is almost as bad or worse than the curse as it is. For example, we've seen at least three different ways to lock the curse, to where we didn't change forms with hot or cold water, but it only locked the cursed form into place." Alex noted the look of horror on Ranma's face before moving on.

"We've also found ways to split the body into cursed and uncursed forms, creating two beings. These were the most dangerous of the cures, you see, they didn't create two unique individuals in two unique bodies, but rather, the same individual in two unique bodies. The one trapped in the vampire form would usually go mad with rage or grief and either end up killing her twin or herself, either way both would die. Soon after the death of one, the other would quickly follow."

"So there is no hope for me."

"I didn't say that! Look around you. People that have led full and happy lives surround you; some of them have led several. As with any Jusenkyo curse, you have to strike a balance with your self and your curse. Here, let us tell you our stories, and you can decide for yourself."

"I was born in 1850, I came into contact of the spring waters by accident. I was one of several workers that were assigned to the Chinese workers in California, to make sure they got off the boats okay and everything else. One of the immigrants had a bunch of different Jusenkyo waters on him, and true to form for the waters, one of his casks of water had an accident and doused me in the water.

I guess I was lucky that it was night, and I was working alone. The old man gave me an address to mail to explaining my situation, while waiting for a reply, he taught me what he knew of Jusenkyo curses then disappeared."

Ranma looked at Alex in disbelief. "Just how old are you? You don't look much older than me."

"One of the side effects of the curse. As Vampires we don't age, that trait is passed to our mortal forms through the blood. I'm around one hundred and fifty, but I stopped counting at one hundred. Xian Ling can tell you more about the blood and its properties."

Xian Ling was a beautiful china girl who looked roughly the same age as Alex.

"I, unlike Alex, was training at the pools when I fell in." Her voice was singsong like and easily listened too. "I have been able to explore my curse and chart how it acts ever since then, roughly 75 years ago, discussions with our peers have confirmed for me that it acts similar in all of us."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?" Ranma said uneasily.

"I'm afraid not. The curse of Jusenkyo has corrupted the curse of the vampire to a point to where a normal life is not possible for you or anybody else afflicted with it. As you can see our lives have become unnaturally extended, but this is only the most beneficial of the vampiric gifts."

"I don't have to drink blood, do I? I don't think I can handle killing to survive, I would rather die."

"A good attitude to have, young one, but I warn you. Blood is additive to you now. After you taste it for the first time, you may find your resolve slipping." Xian Ling drained her glass of warm tea before continuing.

"Right now, you are in a state of flux. Your body can change from mortal to immortal with the temperature of the water. I'm sure that you have noticed that you are not hungry when you are a vampire." She waited for Ranma's nod. "This is because your body is full of blood when you change, and that is what your vampiric body feeds on. You could be starving as a mortal but feel full when you change to your vampire form. This does not work both ways."

"Your body changes any blood that you ingest into something else, we call it Vitae.

Vitae is vampiric blood, but your body does not change what is already in your body when you change, that blood remains as it is. This has several effects; it allows you to survive sunlight instead of being killed by it. It weakens your beast, what we've termed the urges that make you less human when a vampire, and inhibits your vampiric abilities."

"Vitae has several properties that are both beneficial to you and a hindrance. As you age, your Vitae will become more potent, allowing you greater feats of vampiric abilities, but Vitae will only become more potent if you remain a vampire for extended periods of time, such as fifty or more years. No, we are not suggesting that you do anything of the sort." Xian quickly interjected the last part before Ranma could voice his protests of never wanting to do that.

"Vitae has some potent affects on your mortal form, when you change from vampire to mortal, the blood remains the same, and this remains true for any Vitae you might have. What this means is that if you are hungry as a vampire when you change to mortal, you may just be killing yourself. Your vampire body can perform without any blood, your mortal one can't. Vitae will extend your life and give you a small taste of your vampiric abilities, but it won't save your life if you don't have enough blood for your heart to pump." The serious tone of her voice and the piercing look she was pinning Ranma with drove that point home.

"What about a family, how will this curse affect any children he might have?" Nabiki interjected suddenly, breaking the moment.

"Vitae has an adverse affect on the mortal reproductive system, there are several ghouls, mortals who habitually drink Vampiric Vitae, that are unable to conceive a child. There was one ghoul who was pregnant when she took vitae the first time, she had a miscarriage soon after."

"Oh."

"That doesn't mean he cannot sire a child, he just cannot have any Vitae in his system when he tries. I have a daughter that is only five years old at home; I've lived as a vampire for several years before I started to live as a mortal again. Vitae doesn't destroy the ability to have children, only inhibits it." Alex spoke up.

"Dinner is ready." Akira announced. The group decided to hold off on any more discussion until after dinner. Ranma's appetite was notably subdued in Nabiki's eyes.

Author's notes.

I originally wanted for there to be more to this chapter, but I quickly realized that I had taken enough time with it and I had another half to go that was just as long.

I'm pulling the Vitae stuff out of the books and out of my head. Let me know if it makes sense or if you need me to try again on that part.

Jleonard


	7. chapter 6

Vampire Chapter Six

While Ranma's appetite was subdued, it only meant that he ate as much as a normal person. The only people to really notice this were Nabiki and Akira, neither really wanted to point that out though, they didn't want Ranma to compensate.

As the evening wore on, Ranma spoke to more of the guests and heard each of their stories, many of them were former martial artists as himself, and had either visited the springs as a part of a training trip, or encountered the waters of Jusenkyo through some odd series of events. The youngest person there that was cursed other than Ranma had been cursed over 10 years ago.

Nabiki had been cornered off to the side with the wives and husband of some of the cursed individuals to talk to her about life with the curse and what to possibly expect.

Ranma had gotten the dusting impression that they were doing their best to make the prospect of being a vampire as ugly as possible without hiding anything. Nobody said it out right, but when anybody would go into a story, they would play up the times they were mortal and downplay the times they were vampires for any length of time.

Ranma had no intention of giving into his curse, even if it did mean that he could possibly lose out on an extra long life. To him, the price in honor and personal sacrifice wasn't worth it. Besides, the thought of drinking blood made him gag.

Things were going well, it was revealed that Alex was an ordained minister back in America, which answered the unvoiced question of stereotypes. They, for the most part, did not work or apply.

The sound of an old grandfather clock striking nine o'clock ceased the conversations. They had moved back into the study after dinner. One by one, everyone present stood in respect. Ranma and Nabiki even stood, though they didn't know why.

Where Xian Lin had proved to be a beautiful Chinese girl, the lady that walked in joined the group was nothing short of stunning with an ethereal aura. She glided in wearing a formal evening gown with pale alabaster skin. She had a regal bearing about her, as well as a matriarchal one, as if she saw everybody in attendance as her children.

She stopped in front of each person and greeted them personably, bringing her otherworldly appearance back to earth as she proved to Ranma that she wasn't apart from it. When she got to Ranma and Nabiki, Nabiki had quietly sneaked her way over to Ranma and took his arm; she gave them a wide smile that did nothing to hide her fangs and greeted them both. While this did not break the spell around her, it did cause Ranma to look more closely at her and notice other things that did not fit.

Things such as the way she forced herself to blink her eyes, or the way she only breathed in when she was about to say something

"It is an absolute pleasure to finally meet both of you at last. I am Eve." She said as she gripped their hands in turn, her skin cool to the touch. She turned and faced the rest of the group. "It is good to see all of you again after so long. Please enjoy my hospitality while I speak with Ranma and his lovely lady."

She led the pair away from the group and into a corner away from the chattering group. Nabiki was glad for the distraction; the wives were starting to pull out pictures of their kids.

"I wanted to speak with you alone, they've heard my story enough, I doubt they want to hear it again." Eve spoke in a low voice. "I wouldn't want to bore them with it again when they have so much to catch up on."

"I've got to tell you, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment." Ranma said.

"I know that it is a bit much all at once, but there is more you must hear before the night is over. Tell me, what do you think of those you have met already?" Eve gestured towards the group they just left.

"They seem nice enough, I'm not sure I understand some of what they said about the curse, but I figure I'll find out for myself eventually." Ranma replied a little nervously.

"I have a question for you, Eve. Why? I know that you arranged for us to be here to talk about Ranma's curse, but from what I've seen it's more like a support group than anything else. Why all the secrecy?" Nabiki said quietly.

"I believe that the answers to your questions can be found when I tell you my story. You see, I was much like you, Ranma; I was a male martial artist on a training trip when I stumbled upon Jusenkyo. After I was cursed, I decided to come home, to Hong Kong, to learn to live with my curse. You have seen the weather of China; I spent more time in my cursed form than otherwise.

After I reached my home, I tried to live a normal life in the comfort of my family and friends, but the nature of the curse forced me into a nocturnal lifestyle. It was then that I encountered another creature of the night. I hadn't been trying to live as a vampire; I would change with cold water at inopportune moments.

One thing about Vampires is that it we can tell each other apart from a crowd of people. That is what happened to me, I was picked out of a crowd and brought before the Prince of this city. I was forced to learn about myself, my curse, and the society that the vampires have created for themselves beyond the eyes of other mortals.

After I had learned about them and they had made me one of them, I made a decision to go back to Jusenkyo. I did this for several reasons; I knew that I wasn't the only victim of the pools who fell into that particular spring. I also knew that there had to be something else regarding the pools and their curses.

So I went back with two purposes, to either find a cure or to learn as much as possible about the curses and to set up a way to contact and draw any further victims of that pool to me in the future. I did that to protect the victims of the pool from making a mistake that would get them killed.

Vampires have spent countless ages to make the world ignorant of their existence and they are intolerant of anything that would threaten that ignorance. They have killed countless just to keep the secret of their existence safe. Many of the movies, books, television shows, and toys that glorify the vampire are either carefully constructed ploys to keep vampirism in the realm of the fantastical, and thus unbelievable, or happy coincidences.

So I went back to Jusenkyo to protect those who would fall in by accident, with over a hundred pools in Jusenkyo, the chances of falling into one particular pool is unlikely at best, but as you can see…" Eve waved her arm to encompass the other group. "It happens."

"I spent over three decades in the area of Jusenkyo, speaking with and living among the people who made the area home and used the pools of Jusenkyo for their own purposes.

The Phoenix people were the most hospitable and the hardest to approach, living in the peaks of the mountains overlooking the springs, while they did not have much information on the curses themselves, they held my interest by their unique martial arts.

The Musk were an interesting people, with an interesting use of the springs. The one thing of interest was their ladle of preservation; it had the ability to lock a cursed person into their cursed form, no matter the form. They used that and the spring of drowned girl to make their wives out of the wild animals they captured to gain the strengths of the animals in future generations.

The Amazons were the most knowledgeable of the three peoples on the curses of Jusenkyo, but also the most fickle. I would not recommend interacting with them unless absolutely necessary, and then with a dose of caution. It was there that I learned of the various ways to lock a curse, to unlock a curse, as well as many other artifacts that affect the curses of Jusenkyo. That is also where I saw the last rays of sunlight in my life.

The Amazons see Jusenkyo as cursed place and those who are cursed as being punished; I had spent some time at the village as both a male and female, learning their ways and what they knew of the curses. When an elder learned of my curse, she applied a method of locking my curse so that hot water feels like the sun to me. She accused me of deceiving them and not learning from my punishment, so I left them after gathering my belongings.

I set everything up with those caretakers of the cursed springs to watch for any more cursed like myself and to contact me when the spring claimed another. I was locked over two hundred seventy five years ago. I have spent that time gathering those cursed with the waters of the vampire pool to me so that they may have a chance at life, a normal one or one in the night.

Vampirism is nothing like a normal life, I've seen vampires who never had a chance at a normal life become some of the worst monsters you've ever encountered. This is why I do this, to share my knowledge of kindred society with you for when you are forced to become a part of it."

"But I'll…"

"Accidents happen. Eventually water will find you where another vampire will be able to see you and then they will be on the look out for you if you escape. They like to know what vampires are in the city, especially those in charge."

"Eve…" Alex was standing off to the side. "Pardon my interruption, but we've gotten used to sleeping at night, I think that we are going to be making our way to bed for the night. It was a pleasure meeting you Ranma, we'll see each other again before you leave."

The rest of the group made their goodbyes and left Eve, Ranma and Nabiki to continue to talk. Nabiki decided that since they had some more privacy, she could ask a question that had been on her mind.

"Eve, I have to admit that this isn't what I was expecting, I mean, I'm not sure what you're trying to accomplish by contacting other victims of the pool."

"Oh, she's a sharp one!" A voice suddenly said from behind Nabiki, surprising her because she had her back to the wall and had kept an eye on who came and left. Ranma was suddenly the happy owner of a lapful of Nabiki. "It took me a few years to figure out that Eve wasn't doing this out of the goodness of her heart." The newcomer was a guy, where Eve had an ethereal beauty he had roguish good looks, and he was dressed in dark clothes, almost black that contrasted with his white skin.

"Where did you come from?" Ranma was just as shocked as Nabiki, but several years of training let him handle it better, even with Nabiki in his lap. He clutched her protectively while glaring at the new guy.

"Peace, brother. I meant no harm."

"Ranma…Nabiki, may I introduce you to Church, another victim of the pool."

"Victim is a strong word, it indicates that one suffers. I don't consider myself a victim." Churched flashed a smile that revealed his elongated fangs.

"I don't get it. I didn't think there was a spring of drowned vampire guy."

"There isn't one, Ranma. Church's story is his own to tell, but it is one that I highly recommend you listen too. In the mean time… You are right, Nabiki. There is more than a benevolent desire to help others like myself when I went back to the pools." Eve's demeanor changed to a sadder one. "This is a bit more information than what I wanted to reveal, but I can't see the harm in it. Vampires break themselves into five major families or clans, with minor clans, or bloodlines, popping up occasionally.

When I was found the first time, the kindred, what vampires call themselves, determined that I was of the Mekhet Clan. So far, every victim of the pool I have encountered has been of the Mekhet Clan."

"So a Mekhet vampire drowned at the pool originally?" Nabiki interjected.

"A female Mekhet vampire of a young age did. The cursed form has invariably been a young female Mekhet vampire, physical characteristics are always different from victim to victim, so the pool isn't creating copies of the original, merely certain aspects, letting the victim's own body determine the rest."

"I think I can see where you're going with this…" Nabiki said, still in Ranma's lap, she never thought he would be this comfortable.

"Those kindred who can claim to start a bloodline are afforded a certain degree of respect in kindred society. I saw an opportunity to start what would effectively be a bloodline, our Jusenkyo curses and it's effects on the vampiric curse set our kind apart from regular kindred. By becoming the founder of 'our' bloodline, I am given respect above what I had before and it has opened doors for me that were previously closed."

"How does this affect us?" Ranma knew that there had to be something wrong with this scenario.

"It doesn't affect you adversely at all, Ranma." Eve said soothingly.

"In fact, it has nothing but benefits for you right now. Due to my extra status I've been able to establish assets to be used by members of my bloodline, as well as giving victims of the pool, both current and future, a supporting extended family that they can turn to in times of trouble."

"What if we aren't interested in joining your bloodline?" Nabiki spoke up. "Just playing devil's advocate."

"Then we send you home, and leave you to your own devices, as well as ask you to forget about us."

"Just curious."

"I think that is enough for now. It is late and we have a busy day planned for you two, so I think it would be best if you got some sleep."

"It can't be that late. I'm barely even.." Ranma's denial died as he yawned.

"I'll show them up to their room. Hey Church."

"S'up Akira."

"Before we go up, what's your story, Church?"

"I'll give you the short version for now. I got caught up in the kindred society but was reluctant to give up my mortal life. Eventually, I made some enemies as a vampire and they tried to attack me through my 'ghoul', my mortal form. Somebody stole me away and embraced me, before leaving me to my fate. So now, both my forms are vampiric." To illustrate his point, he took a glass of water and poured it over himself. The change was startling, mainly because it wasn't Ranma who did it.

While Church didn't loose any height, his hair changed both color and length, turning from black to blonde. It brought home the fact that the curse was not just Ranma's to bear.

Ranma and Nabiki bid Eve and Church a good night before following Akira up to their room. Church started to get up to leave, but was stopped by Eve's hand on her arm.

"Stay and talk with me a while before you go. I have something to show you about our newest child that you might find interesting."

Once Ranma and Nabiki were in their room, they started to prepare for bed. They had taken one look at the room and the single bed, and started to say something to the curiously absent Akira. Ranma gave a longing look at the western bed before volunteering for the floor.

"Hey Saotome, did you notice anything odd about tonight?" Nabiki broke the silence that they held since getting ready for bed.

"You mean other than the fact that they were all vampires cursed by Jusenkyo?" Ranma's voice was tired sounding and a little bit odd coming from over the edge of the bed.

"Beyond that, I mean, I was expecting them to try to glorify the vampire side of things, instead I'm getting assaulted by family planning with the curse in mind."

"What are you talking about?"

"The wives from earlier, they wouldn't talk about anything except their kids. Like they were miracles or gifts from god or something."

"They say anything interesting?"

"Not really, I'm still a bit too young for that, so don't get any ideas."

"What are you talking about now?"

"Never mind. Good night."

It wasn't long before the sounds of peaceful slumber filled the room.

"What did you want to show me, Eve?" Church reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a fresh blood bag.

One of the many things that Eve had invested in was a string of blood banks in the area. For the most part, they performed their duties honestly, but every so often, a few blood bags would be regulated elsewhere by one or more of the owners. Eve made sure that questions about where the surplus blood would go would not be asked, usually by paying really good salaries.

Pouring the blood into a cup and setting it in the microwave, Church waited for the fluid to warm up.

Eve had gone to her room and gathered the files and papers that she had been reading for the past few days.

"Look over these and tell me what you think." She handed the large file to Church.

Church sat the file down and took a seat after collecting her cup of warm blood from the nuker. After a few minutes of flipping pages, Church looked up.

"This is quite the police record, Ranma isn't as innocent he looks or acts."

"He's only sixteen, look at the date on the reports."

"I see, he was only ten for some of these things. I keep seeing the name Genma, is this his father?"

"I believe so."

"The guy is good. There's only a few reports that has his name on them, but they fit the same M.O. Except this one…" Church pulled out a particular report and started to read through it. "'Genma is wanted for questioning in connection to reports of child abuse, authorities found a pit full of cats along with several complaints of noise from the area. Investigations revealed that Genma may have thrown his child into the pit several times as a means of punishment.' This guy has to die." Church's voice had been filling with horror of what Ranma's life was reading like.

"There's more."

Church continued to read. By the time he was done, the façade of life she had put in place before meeting Ranma and Nabiki had fallen. "That boy's had a rough life so far and an even rougher one coming if what that says is true. Where did you get that information?"

"I had Akira do some digging while he was watching them. He told me that his investigation had only scratched the surface of what has happened to Ranma."

"This is rich, I counted at least five different contracts promising marriage for as little as a bowl of rice."

"I don't think that he knows about any of them. Those two look good together, don't they?"

"You're not getting wistful on me are you Eve?"

"No, of course not. What are your plans for tomorrow night?"

"Changing the subject? Nothing special, why? Do you have something in mind?"

"Take them out with you and show them a good time. He's had so much pain in his life and so much more coming if any of this catches up with him. It would be nice to give him something to remember other than his father's legacy."

The next day saw Ranma and Nabiki out shopping with some of the people they spoke to the night before. They had shown up sometime before noon, just as Ranma and Nabiki were getting up, and hustled them out the door. The excuse was that they needed something to show for their 'winning' the 'contest' and a shopping spree in Hong Kong was just the thing convince anybody who hadn't bought the excuse.

Nabiki thought it was just a reason for them to socialize with each other. She had been drawn in with the women again and was currently engaged in modeling some of the most expensive outfits she had seen while listening to how they would affect 'her young man'.

Ranma had been likewise engaged by some of the men, who had taken the more efficient path of just getting what Ranma was interested in while making some suggestions. Some of the men who had previously spent time as vampires had a deeper understanding on what it meant to shop and steered Ranma on a more selective choice of clothing.

At some point, both parties had decided that they had enough clothes and had regrouped for lunch and then planned an attack for the entertainment section. While they were eating, Ranma approached one of the old timers, an affectionate nickname for one of the men who had spent time as a vampire, and quietly asked a question that got his attention.

"Not so loud. So you want to know why we aren't trying to get you to act like something else? It's a long answer and you won't like it. Are you sure that you want me to tell you?" Alex said conversationally.

"Yeah, I want to know why nobody has tried to push me into fully accepting my curse and learn how not to gag at the thought of drinking…"

"Tea!" Alex interjected forcibly. "Thank you." At a quieter tone, he continued. "Keep your voice down when talking about this stuff, or at least talk about it when we're not in public. The answer to your question is because the thirst for that is undeniable if you spend enough time in that state. I know all about the vows to never drink the stuff, trust me; we've all made those promises and everyone of us ended up breaking them.

Truth be told, the stuff is addictive, more so than any drug you can ever find. Do your best not to get started on it. Because once you do, you can't stop yourself from wanting more. But now is not the time or the place to worry about such things. You're too young to let such things bother you."

The day continued on and by the time it was all said and done, Nabiki was worried about how they were going to get this stuff home. Akira was waiting for them when they arrived at Eve's home again.

"I hope that they didn't tire you two out completely, we've still got some plans for you tonight."

"Oh? Like what?" Nabiki asked, all she wanted to do was relax and rest her feet after all the walking they did that day, and maybe play with her new laptop computer. They had seen her eyeing it in the store and practically bought it for her despite her protests, half hearted though they were.

"Church and myself were going to take the two of you out to see the nightlife. Give you guys a night to remember before you go back tomorrow. I'd recommend getting something light to eat and a nap before we head out. We'll be getting in late tonight."

"While I admit that's a great idea, but we can't exactly do much since we're underage." Nabiki hated to bring that up, but it had already become an issue earlier that day when she had tried to purchase some particular items.

"Not a problem, our first stop is going to get you two some 'proper' identification, I've got a friend that owes me a couple of favors that does that sort of thing."

"C'mon Soatome, we've got some rest to get."

"Hey, Ranma! Wash up using this soap. Church dropped it off for you earlier."

"What's so special about it?"

"I'll tell you when you get done. Be sure to scrub up with it while you're still a guy though."

"…okay…"

When Ranma was done washing up for the night and on his way out of the bathroom with a bounce in his step, Akira stopped him.

"Like the soap do ya? Don't get too excited about it. It only works a little while, maybe eight hours without any water washing it off, but enough water will wash it off. Just a little something to make the days less stressful for you."

"Why can't I use the soap all the time to just avoid getting wet altogether?"

"A couple of reasons, its expensive, it's difficult to get, and there's not a big demand for it. Don't worry, I'll make sure to get you on the shipping list for a regular supply of it, but expect a wait, they've been getting behind in their orders. You should thank Church when you see him again, that was his last fresh bar."

Ranma looked at the bar of soap with something akin to reverence, the words 'waterproof soap' just visible in the bar. He hadn't paid any attention to it until he had poured cold water over himself to rinse himself off. When the expected change didn't occur, he nearly cried in joy until he saw the words on the soap. He figured that his cure was only a temporary one, that brought his good mood down a little, but not enough to ruin his night.

"Go on. Get dressed. We'll be leaving as soon as you're ready."

They left the house just as the sun was setting over the horizon, the clouds a purple and orange color that was beautiful in Nabiki's eyes. Their first stop was to a nondescript house in one of the poorer subdivisions of Hong Kong. It only took them half an hour but when they were done, both Ranma and Nabiki were the proud new owners of a pair of ID's that said they were slightly older than what they truly were.

It was dark when they pulled into the downtown-parking garage. They made their way out and onto the street to head for the place they were going to meet Church. Akira noted some of the late night stores that both Ranma and Nabiki eyed while they were walking up.

The club was one of the high scale hip and happening places that catered to the young tourists that came to Hong Kong looking for a good time. Techno music was pumped through industrial size speakers while the young, sexy, and anonymous danced their way to oblivion. It even had a bar that provided any sort of alcoholic beverage that could be imagined. The forbidden fruit for those under age, put into reach by the generosity of their hosts.

Church met them inside the club, he was currently a she and dressed to kill. If Ranma and Nabiki hadn't seen her last night, they would have never recognized her. As it was, Ranma was having some difficulty accepting that any guy would willingly dress as Church was. It left very little to the imagination and sent some very suggestive messages to any male in the area.

"Take Nabiki ahead, I want to talk to Ranma for a second alone. We'll catch up with you." Church said to Akira.

The sun's early morning light came through the window and slowly made its way to the bed and the pair of sleeping teenagers. The pair were comfortably wrapped in each others' arms, very much comfortable with the presence of the other, at least while they were asleep. It would take a very innocent and naïve soul to not know what had led the pair be slumbering together in the same bed and with an apparent lack of clothing.

Despite the sun's attempts to wake the pair, they merely shifted deeper into each others' arms and continued to sleep.

Earlier that morning:

"Just what did you say to those two when you had them alone?" Akira wasn't the least bit surprised that Church had probably had something to do with the odd behavior of his two charges that night. His job had been to make sure that they had a good time and not get into any trouble. The first part had been easy, especially after Church had taken each aside and said something to them.

"I just lowered their inhibitions a little." Church said innocently. Akira's hooded stare said that he didn't believe a word of it. Church's shit eating grin also told another story.

"Okay so I went a little over board with the lowering of inhibitions. No harm was done, right?"

"I know there was something else you said to them, the couldn't stay apart from each other the whole night, not even in the tattoo parlor."

"Yeah, I made it so that they only had eyes for each other."

"This is a dangerous game you're playing…"

"Oh, c'mon! I'm just doing what I think is right. Those two are going to have it rough when they go home, I'm just setting the boy up with something good for the long road. Something I wish one of the others had done for me when I was fresh."

"They won't like it if they ever find out what you did."

"They won't figure it out, and you won't tell them anything. You know its for the best. Besides, they've got the rest of their lives ahead of them, might as well get them jump started with each other, right? You're going to set them up like normal?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Good, I've got to get going if I'm going to beat the morning's light. Any suggestion that I put in their heads will have worn off when they wake up. Have fun."

"Church you utter bastard."


	8. Chapter 7

Vampire Chapter Seven …

Meanwhile…

"Akane, I don't know about this."

"Please, Daddy, I'll take care of it and everything. We can't leave it out like this." Akane had really put on the charm for this one. Every trick in the book, the puppy dog eyes, the single tear down the cheek, the toe twirl, she had even pulled the 'it followed me home' line. Soun never stood a chance against her attack.

That was one of Soun's many unacknowledged weaknesses, he never had a strong resistance to his girls. He would start out strong, but if they persisted he would crumble; giving into whatever requests they might have had. It wasn't so bad when his wife was still alive; where he was rice paper she was stone. Her influence had kept the girls' wild ideas under control.

Since her death so many years ago, the Tendo family had to adjust to life without their mother, for Nabiki, that meant taking on the financial responsibilities of the family.

And to say No to Akane when she wanted something small and fuzzy. Unfortunately for Soun, Nabiki had just left with Ranma to Hong Kong.

"If you promise to take care of it, and take it to the vet to have its leg looked at, then I suppose it will be alright. It'll be your responsibility to make sure that it is properly trained."

The animal was cute in its own way, especially with the Akane style dressing on its front leg. The dressing overwhelmed the leg with its excess of knots and overabundance of material.

"Thank you Daddy!" Akane caught Soun in a hug that nearly crushed his ribs; they were creaking under the pressure Akane was bringing to bear. "I'll take him there right now. C'mon P chan!"

Once Akane and P chan where out of the house and out of site, they made an unexpected turn into a wooded area just off the road. After a few moments they both emerged at a campsite that had a fire going with a teakettle whistling. Akane wasted no time in scooping up the kettle and pouring some hot water on the animal's head.

"P-chan?" Ryoga said indignantly while getting dressed while being mindful of his broken arm.

"Yes, P-chan. I think it suits you. How's your arm?"

"Sore, tender, but in one piece and no longer broken. It'll be a couple of weeks before I can fight again."

"Only a couple of weeks? I'll admit that it looks much better than the other day when I found you, but I think you're being a little optimistic."

"Yes, only a couple of weeks, I know a chi technique that lets me focus on healing myself. It speeds up recovery time. It's not instantaneous, but it gets me up and running again."

"Wow. Where did you learn that?"

"Somewhere in China…I think. Short story is that I helped some guys out and they gave me the scroll with the technique on it as payment."

"Do you think that you could teach me that technique?"

"Sure, but it'll have to wait until after I get better. You have to be at a certain point of chi awareness before you can learn this technique. I got some things you could do while you're waiting. So, what's the plan with the family and me? I mean, I'm in the house now as your pet, but what then?"

"Simple, we keep that freak away from my sisters and look for an opportunity to either expose him for the bloodsucker he is, or to take him out. Just don't do anything to make him or my sister suspect anything and you should be fine."

"I'm not so sure about killing him, but I do owe him for the hell he's put me through. If what you said is true then he'll have to be stopped. It's a martial artists duty to protect."

The days since Nabiki and Ranma left and when they were going to come back were filled with Akane and 'P chan' ingrating the new pet to the family, mainly P Chan lying around looking cute while trying not to use his front leg while he concentrated on healing it.

Ranma and Nabiki were scheduled to arrive back from Hong Kong late in the day. Kasumi was busy planning a big welcome back party for the pair. Akane had intercepted Genma from putting up wedding banners, not out of any feelings of warmth towards Ranma, but just a want of not seeing anything that would indicate that the boy would soon be a part of her family. If she had any say in the matter, then he would never be.

Akane had spent some of her time after school the past week to do some homework on her perverted bloodsucking enemy, pulling up every book she could find at the library and bookstores as well as acquiring as many movies as possible on the subject.

Akane was having some doubts about Ranma because he never wore any eveningwear like the movie said all vampires do. She quickly rationalized that he probably had it stashed for evenings, the time of day that she avoided his presence, and wouldn't wear the stuff during the day.

So while Kasumi, her father and Ranma's father were preparing for the big welcome home party for the young couple, Akane was preparing something less wholesome for the cursed boy.

Akane was aware of how terrible her cooking was, she knew that if she wanted to clear the house for herself, all she had to do was announce that she was cooking and the house was hers for the night or Nabiki would order take out.

Her family knew about this, Ranma didn't. So Akane decided to cook for Ranma's return. Kasumi never had the heart to deny Akane the kitchen when she decided to cook, so it wasn't a problem putting together a meal. The only difference was that Akane was intentionally trying to make it horrible. Nabiki had accused Akane of trying to poison them after one of the first meals before everybody had learned how to avoid 'Akane the cook'. Akane was only trying to poison Ranma now.

Ranma and Nabiki were coming home much like they left, in a cab from the airport. The Tendo family had never felt the need for a vehicle so they had never owned one. Public transportation was exceptional and perfectly suited their needs. When the cab pulled in front of the Tendo Dojo and the pair got out, there was a noticeable difference in the way that they were treating each other. Nabiki was giving the poor boy the cold shoulder while Ranma was sulking while unloading the cab.

When they had left two days ago, they both had one bag apiece and what Ranma had could have fit in Nabiki's bag. Now, they had two sets of luggage, each filled with an entire wardrobe for each of them plus several boxes of various devices that were picked up for them by the over eager mortal victims.

The cab pulled off, leaving the teenaged pair standing in front of the doors to the house. Nabiki only stood there for a moment before going to open the door, leaving Ranma with the bags.

"Better not break anything, Soatome." Nabiki said over her shoulder as she entered the house.

"Welcome Home!"

"How was the trip?"

"What's Hong Kong like?"

"Growf."

"Where's Ranma?"

"He's outside getting our stuff."

"Could I get some help here?" Ranma came stumbling in overloaded in luggage and bags, there was still a sizable pile outside.

"What's with all the stuff?"

"Shopping spree that went with the trip."

"Growf" Did you do an old man proud, boy? 

"Pops, Not now!"

"Hurry up Ranma, we're about to eat."

"Is that everything? Okay let's eat."

Everybody, except Kasumi and Akane, was seated at the table, which was loaded with food. As soon as Ranma was seated both Kasumi and Akane came out of the kitchen bearing food.

"Here you go Ranma, I made this just for you." Akane set…something…down in front of Ranma. Ranma noticed that everybody had stopped what they were doing. Even Nabiki, who had been upset with Ranma ever since the morning, looked concerned and scared for him.

"Er…Thanks…" Ranma looked at the…thing and tried to determine just what was in it. Poking it didn't give him any clues. Nobody had moved to eat since Akane had placed it in front of him. Screwing up his courage, he scooped up a bit of the…stuff…and put into his mouth.

Nabiki involuntarily held her breath as Ranma placed Akane's cooking into his mouth. She had been upset with Ranma, waking up with him in her bed had been pleasant but unwanted. Her memories of the night before were vivid and she remembered seducing him just as much as him seducing her.

As upset that it had happened that she was, she would have never wished Akane's cooking on anybody, not even Kuno. Maybe Kuno, but not anybody else. The thing was that nobody could say Akane's cooking was bad to her face without her denying it and demanding they finish their meal.

Nabiki was expecting Ranma to pale, go into shock, and the rest of the night in the hospital getting his stomach pumped. Thus it was surprising when Ranma continued to eat.

"This is great. What is it?"

"Uh…Curry…"

"Ranma? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Nabiki, this is some good stuff, you should try some."

"NO! I mean, I made it for you."

"Okay. Wow, Akane, that was great, Thanks." Ranma emptied his plate and filled it up with the other food on the table and continued eating. The rest of them slowly got over their shock that Ranma had not only survived Akane's cooking, but enjoyed it as well.

"So, how was the trip, Nabiki?" Soun asked after a few minutes of cautiously watching Ranma for signs of collapse.

"It was educational." Nabiki said after a moment's hesitation.

"Oh? What did you learn?"

"Fish! We went to the Hong Kong Aquarium." Nabiki was blushing a little at this point; Soun was oblivious to it, though.

"If everybody is done eating, we brought stuff for everybody." Ranma did his best to bail Nabiki out of the unintentional interrogation that Soun had her trapped in.

Dinner went by relatively quickly, Akane was the last to finish, mainly because she was preoccupied with watching Ranma and seeing if any of the poisons that she knew she had put into the meal she cooked for him would take effect. Maybe they were slow acting?

When Ranma had shown no signs of slowing down, Akane was at a loss of could have happened.

After helping Kasumi put away the dishes and hitting his old man for holding up a sign stating that he shouldn't be doing girl's work before Kasumi could see the panda's insensitivity, Ranma gathered up some of the stuff that was bought for him during the trip.

Nabiki was a little out of it, waking up in Ranma's arms had been unexpected, unwanted, and one of the most pleasant things that had ever happened to her. She could remember everything that they had done the night before, from the night club, tattoo parlor and finally back at Eve's where they torn each others clothes off to get at each other.

She was mad at Ranma and at herself for going too far last night. She knew that it wasn't fully Ranma's fault but she was going to make sure that he knew she was upset with him. Problem was, she kept going back to last night when…

Thus, it was a surprise when Nabiki went into the family room to see what Ranma was up too with some of the things he had gotten during the trip when she met 'P Chan'.

Ranma came back down the stairs holding an armful of different stuff that he was never going to use but the others insisted that every young man needed. Ranma couldn't see a point in the Gamebox (think X) and from what he had seen of it, it was something that he would never get around to plugging up let alone play.

So Ranma had decided to give it away when he got home, hopefully Akane would like it enough to play it instead of harassing him. Then again, if dinner was any indication, then Akane had already forgiven him. The idea brought a smile to Ranma's face.

Ranma also had a few movies that were purchased if he even gave a little bit of interest in the package. Ranma had to stop a few from buying some weird stuff just because of the interesting box cover. Those he was going to give away as well. The only thing Ranma was deciding to keep was the cell phone and the wardrobe.

So it was with arms laden with expensive electronical equipment that Ranma walked into the family room and saw the largest grey wolf he had ever seen with its head in Akane's lap staring balefully at him.

"Uhm…Did you guys always have a dog?" Ranma asked uncertainly.

_Dear Diary, _

_It's been a few years since I've written anything in a diary, but with a new computer, I figured I would start. A lot has happened since the last time I wrote, ever since mother died, I don't even know where to start._

_I guess I should start at the beginning, I'm engaged. It's an arranged marriage that my father put together before we were born and you know how he is about family honor. The guy isn't that bad, he takes some getting used too, but he grows on you._

_The guy has a weird curse though, splash him with water and he turns into an honest to kami Vampire! Not just that, but a female vampire! That was how I first saw him, but you can't tell just by looking at 'her' that she's a vampire. I didn't figure it out until I found a booklet that he had outlining his curse. _

_When I was younger, before mother died, I was fascinated with vampires. I still have a large movie collection in storage somewhere of just vampire movies. I guess that's one reason why I decided to step forward and try to get to know him better. It's not every day that you get the object of your dreams delivered to you in an arranged marriage._

_Turns out there's a lot of vampires out in the world, but they do their best to keep people ignorant of that fact. I guess that makes sense to a point. The important thing is that there is a small group of vampires who are the result of the same curse as Ranma, my fiancé, and they've set up something of a support structure for each other. _

_The other reason that I decided to accept the responsibility of bearing family honor is that the guy was in a serious funk about his curse and Kasumi had decided to dump the engagement onto Akane. No offense to Akane, but she isn't the nicest of people, expecially towards guys. _

_Ranma doesn't like his curse at all. I find it fascinating, though I do wish that it was a guy's form that was a vampire. I can see why Ranma doesn't like it though, whenever he gets splashed during the day he goes to sleep almost instantly, but if he's in sunlight then he screams like he's in pain and has a little bit of a sunburn when he turns back into a guy. _

_We were told that was because he hasn't drank any blood yet, otherwise he would just burst into flames and nothing would be left but ash. I was somewhat interested in seeing what it would be like to be bitten by Ranma, but not if that is part of the risk._

_Akane is the same as before, except that she seems to have acquired an unnatural hatred towards boys. Kuno's fault, challenging her for a date instead of asking for one instead. He's got the entire population of boys attacking her every morning on that pretense. I offered to help her stop it, but she told me not too, it was good practice for her._

_It's funny, at first glance, Ranma seems to be the perfect match to Akane, they're both martial artists, the same age, and with Ranma's curse…_

_But the more you get to know Ranma, the more he'll surprise you. He hides under a façade he built while training with his father. He's ignorant, but not stupid. Give him a problem and he'll figure it out eventually. _

_He's got a lot of bad habits that he picked up from his father._

_Akane picked up a new pet. I don't know where she gets these animals, but they never last long. This time she's managed to get herself a wolf. I don't know where she got it, but it seems fully trained, it follows any command that is given to it. Though, there are times that it seems that it is just humoring us. It is nice enough, except towards Ranma. _

_It doesn't attack, but it goes from being a friendly playful wolf to a coiled spring of violence when Ranma's around. I think it may have something to do with Ranma's curse. I'm not too worried about it though, Akane seems to be able to control it okay. _

_Ranma and I went on a trip to Hong Kong where we learned a lot about his curse. We ended up doing more than what I wanted to do at the end of the trip. We can't let anybody know what happened or we'll be wearing wedding bands before the day is out, we especially can't let Akane know, she would probably kill Ranma for being a pervert and think that she was protecting me._

_It was nice, but not something that I'm ready for yet. Strange thing is that I'm upset but not angry at Ranma. I know I was as eager that night despite my wishes and I remember that I started things. _

_One thing did surprise me when we got home though, Ranma ate Akane's cooking, and he lived! Even said that he enjoyed it! I don't know what made that possible or if it was just a fluke on Akane's part. Her cooking has never been edible, let alone good. Maybe Ranma is trying to get on her good side, if he is, he's got a cast iron stomach and some top notch acting skills._

_Good night Diary_

_Nabiki Tendo_

Ranma was busy in the bathroom examining his new tattoo.

"What possessed me to get this thing?" It wasn't of anything in particular, just a tribal design that the tattoo artist had that had caught Ranma's eye.

"I must have been crazy to get this thing, how am I going to explain this to pop's?"

Ranma put his shirt on after administering care to his tattoo and making sure that it was completely covered before going down to breakfast.

"Hey Ranma, have you ever gone skating?" Nabiki asked Ranma as he sat down.

Author's Notes: Inspiration can take many different forms. I spent forever on the above scene with the dinner and Ranma and Nabiki's return home, writing and rewriting until I just got it right enough that I didn't hate it. Then I moved on to the after dinner scene and felt it happening again.

But then I had the great idea for a dairy entry plot device; cliché but effective for what I wanted to do and it accomplished many things for me. It had been pointed out that the foundation for Ranma's and Nabiki's relationship was missing a few key parts. Such as why would Nabiki ever consider Ranma as a fiancé and continue with the engagement. I hope that the dairy entry explains some of Nabiki's motives while giving a little insight to her current thoughts.

Love it or hate it, constructive criticism is always welcome.


	9. Chapter 8

Vampire Chapter Eight

Disclaimer: Characters of Ranma 1/2 are owned by somebody else.

Characters within the story will be acting out of character, this warning is to cover

any inconsistencies in character behavior in my story. And finally, this is my story, so the characters are perfectly within character while in it. If you want the characters to remain in character, read the manga.

One month had past since the trip to Hong Kong for Ranma and Nabiki had past and things had settled into a dependable pattern. Thanks to the liberal use of water proof soap, a good many potentially embarrassing situations had been avoided and a few deadly ones as well. But that hadn't prevented Ranma from getting into some unusual challenges and learning some unique martial arts.

Akane's new 'dog' made a habit of coming and going when it wanted. It had made its position on Ranma clear the first night and Ranma had stayed clear of the animal since then. It had also seemed overly protective of Akane where Ranma was concerned. Ryoga also kept showing up from time to time, usually to start a fight with Ranma over something. The sight of Ryoga just appearing out of the furo had become a common one and no one seemed to have much to say on it, at least when he took his fight outside first.

Ranma and Nabiki had, much to the satisfaction of Akane, grown apart after the trip. While they still did things that marked them as a couple, it was notably subdued on Nabiki's part and she didn't spend as much time with Ranma as she did before. Ranma dealt with it the only way he knew how, by burying himself into his martial arts and now, thanks to Nabiki's influence, his schoolwork.

Ranma's tattoo did not escape notice, but after a few comments about it everybody just accepted it. Though it did tend to make Kasumi a little uncomfortable to see it.

The Water proof soap had been a continual issue with Genma, with him trying to steal it at every opportunity after he found out about it.

While crazy things still happened to and around Ranma, it was as if suddenly he could handle them better without the threat of a painful sunburn and an embarrassing situation looming over his shoulder with a splash of water. He still suffered from foot in mouth disease, but the medication for that seemed to be a stern look from Nabiki.

There was, briefly, a situation involving 'P-chan' being called 'Charlotte', but the thing about great big wolves is that they can look big and beautiful one second and big and deadly the next. No animal is cute when it is as big as you are and growling certain pain.

While things were starting to get settled for Ranma and family, events were about to shatter the peace…further…

888

"Damnit Pops, give me my soap!"

"Growf" Don't be greedy boy!

"That's my last bar of soap, you overgrown rug!"

It shames me that you hid such a thing from your father. flip My need is as great as yours.

"Yeah, right!"

It was dusk, just between day and night, and Ranma was in his boxers with a towel over his shoulders ready to take a bath for the evening while the panda was running around with only a towel and a slim sliver of soap that had been given to Ranma during his trip to Hong Kong. Ranma had been careful about the application of the soap since then, but somehow after going through the three bars given to him, his father had found the last one and had stolen it for his own use.

With a mischievous look in his eyes, the panda slowed down until Ranma was just about on top of him when he jumped into the koi pond in the Tendo's backyard, drenching them both. It was still light enough with the suns light to give Ranma pause, enough of a pause for the Panda to escape. Ranma had fallen into a magical spring in Jusenkyo that turned him into a vampiric girl when hit with cold water. It was later revealed that as long as Ranma did not drink any blood then the sun's light would only be painful rather than deadly. However, the word painful shouldn't be confused with bearable. Ranma described it as being cooked over an open flame.

The curse had many hidden aspects to it, for one, Ranma was essentially cursed with two curses, one; to change into a girl and two; to become a vampire. While the girl part wasn't as bad as the vampiric part, it was still embarrassing at how much of a girl Ranma became. Where Ranma was ruggedly handsome, as handsome as someone could be at the age of sixteen, his vampiric girl form was exotically beautiful. With alabaster skin that was flawless in it's complexion, and an ageless look that refused to give any hints to his true age, Ranma's bright red hair completed the transformation from teenaged boy martial artist to super model.

The tattoo had proven that both bodies were Ranma's because despite the obvious differences between them, the tattoo remained where it was on both of them. The only real difference that the tattoo showed was that it shrank a little in his female form and darkened a bit, giving it a little more contrast between it and her alabaster skin.

One of the effects that sunlight had on Ranma's cursed form was a tendency to be dormant during the daylight hours, a survival trait in vampires he supposed. So it was mixed signals that Ranma received when he got wet right at dusk, falling down unconscious only to get up again after a couple of seconds.

"Damn it, pops." Ranma's new voice sounded strange to him, he didn't like being this way, female, because of the way his father had brought him up. Being taught that girls were weak in everyway compared to a man and then having that lesson brought to question by becoming the demonstation model had not been a good experience for Ranma. Meeting Nabiki had only proved to him further that Pops had gotten something wrong in his assessment of the female race.

Ranma also didn't like being female because of the effect it had on the household he was living in with his pops. The Tendo's were as a whole accepting of Ranma and his father and their special conditions. While the family in general didn't know the full truth behind Ranma's vampiric curse, Nabiki, Ranma's fiancé did and accepted him for it. However, Akane, Nabiki's younger sister, also knew and wasn't so accepting, downright hostile would have been a more accurate description of her attitude towards Ranma.

For the past couple of months, Ranma had been using a special brand of soap that was water proof, it gave him limited protection against any errant water that would trigger the transformation. It had done wonders for the attitude of Akane who seemed to settle down as long as she didn't see any red hair, even to the point of talking to Ranma. While they weren't friends yet by any stretch of the imagination, she wasn't avoiding Ranma as much anymore either.

Wrapping the towel around his…or rather, her chest to hide her newly feminine breasts, something that Nabiki had insisted she do whenever the situation arose, Ranma headed back into the house to search for some hot water before Akane could see her and go back to her old ways.

P-chan, Akane's pet wolf, growled slightly at Ranma as she was about to enter the house. Akane had gotten the animal while Ranma and Nabiki were in Hong Kong, since then, P-chan had shown a distinct dislike for Ranma in either form, but especially his cursed form. Ranma felt that they had an understanding going on, he would leave the animal alone if it would do the same to him, so far there had been no misunderstandings.

Ranma's attention was grabbed by one of the walls of yard, it was cracking as something was pounding on it from the outside. Suddenly it bubbled out and exploded in debris as a perfectly round hold was made in the concrete. Stepping through the hole and rubble was a nightmare out of Ranma's worst memories.

"You I kill." Came a singsong voice in bad Japanese that was thick with a heavy Chinese accent. A bombori, a circular piece of metal on a stick, was pointed at Ranma by a china girl of exceeding beauty, as long as the bloodlust she had was not directed at you.

The china girl wasted no time attacking Ranma. Ranma's skill in martial arts had been honed over the years to a high level and it was obvious who the better fighter was almost immediately.

"Shampoo, you…are…the…one…person…I…can't …deal…with."

Ranma dodged every one of the girl's attacks before using the towel to blind the new enemy. When Shampoo cleared her vision of the offensive towel, Ranma was nowhere to be seen.

"Where Ranma go?" She demanded of the Tendo family who had watched the fight with interest.

Wordlessly they all pointed towards the hole in the wall where Shampoo had made her entrance. Shampoo was off and in pursuit of her prey as fast as her legs could propel her.

After a minute of waiting to see if she would return, Nabiki got up and walked towards the koi pond.

"She's gone Soatome, you can come up for air now."

With a splash, Ranma rose out of the water and tredged over to the side where Nabiki was holding a towel for her to dry off with.

"Tell me, Soatome, is there going to be anybody that comes to visit us that doesn't want you dead?"

The dirty look Ranma shot Nabiki was somewhat ruined by the state of her hair and the water dribbling off her nose.

Kasumi came over and poured hot water from a tea kettle over Ranma, changing him back into a guy.

"Who was that, Ranma? An ex-girlfriend?" Kasumi asked innocently.

"That is not my girlfriend!" Ranma denied hotly while wrapping the towel around his waist, wet boxers left nothing to the imagination and Ranma didn't have to force any modesty about his male self.

"Well? Who was that? Even though we are all getting used to the idea of random people attacking you, you knew this girl. What did you call her? Shampoo?" Nabiki was showing her unnerving habit of being exceptionally observant and getting straight to the point.

"Whoa! Let me take a bath and get some clothes on and I'll tell you all about her." Ranma exclaimed while moving towards the bathroom.

They let him go only to hear him yelling at his father, who came running down the stair and into the backyard in Panda form with suds covering his massive frame. The Panda's signs read of trickery and how he was deceived. Nabiki just asked if he had bothered to change into a man before using the soap.

888

"We met her just after Jusenkyo. It was rumored that her village may have had a cure for the springs, not that we ever had a chance to find out." Ranma's glare at his still panda father could have killed.

"We got to her village just as they were they finishing up with a tournament, it was after dark so I was in my cursed form because we didn't have any hot water. Turns out the table full of food that Pops decided to eat from was the grand prize for the tournament and Shampoo was the winner."

"Ahh, I see, she's out to kill because your father ate her prize." Akane ventured.

"Not quite. She came over and demanded that the panda be killed and some other stuff for her honor and for eating her prize, so I challenged her for it." Ranma got a faraway look in his eyes as he retold the story. "She was good, she was the village champion and everything, but I was better. Beat her in two seconds flat."

"My aren't we modest." Nabiki said mockingly.

"Anyway, the ref was declaring me the winner while everybody else was acting in shock that I beat their champ, when she got up and kissed me."

"Ranma…" Nabiki's voice and look were filled with menace.

"Hey! She kissed me on the cheek and I was a girl! The guide freaks out and drags both me and pops out of the village screaming something about a kiss of death. Turns out that the entire village was Amazon, and they have a really weird honor system. If an outsider defeats them in combat, then the loser has to kill the victor to reclaim their honor. After that, we couldn't get rid of her, any time we stopped for any length of time she would show up and try to kill us…me." Ranma shuddered at the memory of being hunted.

Nobody noticed the look that Akane gave her wolf, or that the wolf left during Ranma's explanation.

The next morning…

"Good morning, Ranma, you have guests." Kasumi's said, again, innocently.

Sitting at the table were both Ryoga and Shampoo. Ranma's heart rate went through the roof at seeing shampoo, but Ryoga?

"Hey, Ranma, look who I ran into on my way over here, she said that she wanted to see you again…"

"Ranma?" Shampoo looked over at Ranma and scooted over a little closer, giving him a very thorough pat down and inspection. "Male." She said dismissively when she was done.

"Hmmm…Do you think this is the first time she ever saw him as a guy?" Akane speculated.

"What possessed you to bring her here, lost boy? She's trying to kill me!" Ranma hissed into Ryoga's face.

"I don't think it's very wise to talk to me like that, especially when you're out of soap?" Ryoga sloshed his cup of cold water meaningfully.

"Hey now!" Ranma backed off from Ryoga in fear.

"I mean, she did come all this way to see a girl, we wouldn't want to disappoint her."

The pair was interrupted by the introduction of a bonbori being thrust between them. The bonbori was caught by Akane, causing her to drop her own glass of water.

"Give me Ranma!" Shampoo growled out.

"That's what we're trying to…"

"You hide Ranma, you too…KILL!" Shampoo's bonbori started to swing their way towards Akane's head, only to be intercepted by Ranma's foot, snapping the weapon in half and sending the metal ball upward.

"No playing ball in the house!" Ranma roared.

The metal ball swung upward and fell back to earth making a single stop on the way down, connecting with Shampoo's head and bringing her down as well.

"Oh my."

"…" Ranma was speechless.

"Defeated again. Poor girl." Ryoga deadpanned.

"It was an accident!" Ranma gasped.

"Ranma, you're too modest, of course you defeated her" Kasumi dismissed.

Knockout

"No! I didn't mean to do it!" Ranma practically yelled.

"But this means that she'll be after the male Ranma too!" Akane worked out.

Shampoo woke up with a grimace on her face, her eyes fixed on the panicking Ranma. She growled as she got up and advanced on him.

"I didn't beat you! It was a fluke accident!" Ranma tried to ward off the advancing China girl.

"Be a Man…and Accept your Kiss!" Ryoga yelled, shoving Ranma into the girl's arms.

What happened next could only be described as a disappointment to both Ryoga and Akane and a major surprise to everybody present.

"You I love." Shampoo said as she gave Ranma a passionate kiss.

Ranma couldn't handle this new development and ceased all higher brain functions and subsequently stopped struggling against Shampoo.

888

Nabiki's relationship with Ranma was of some concern to Nabiki. Ever since the morning that they had woken up together, naked, in bed, she had been intentionally cold towards him.

The reason for this was because she had surprised herself by actually starting to have feelings for him. She hadn't planned on that. Originally, she was only interested in him because of his curse. But as she spent more and more time with Ranma trying to learn more about it, she got to know him, and slowly he wormed his way into her heart.

She had an idea about what happened that night in Hong Kong, after arriving at the club, things just seemed to be a bit more clearer when in reference towards Ranma. Not to be with him had seemed wrong that night. When they got back to their room at Eve's, it was like she was doing precisely what she had wanted and just hadn't realized it. But then the morning after came and the clarity of the night before vanished as a hangover rushed in to take its place, and the full implications of what they had done began to sink into her pounding head.

For her own sake, she needed space.

While she couldn't just shut Ranma out of her life, she had distanced herself from Ranma as much as she could until she felt she could be ready to deal with the feelings that were holding her prisoner. It tore her up the first week to see the hurt look on Ranma's face as she cancelled study sessions and ate lunch away from him at school. But then he had stopped seeking her out and she tried to deal with what she was feeling.

She had come to a decision that night, with the introduction of yet another person interested in killing her fiancé, she had decided to have a nice long talk with Ranma about what had happened that night and where they stood with each other. Something that should have been done the first morning.

So it was with the intent of apologizing to Ranma for being a royal bitch to him for the past few weeks when she walked into the Shampoo kiss.

One thing can be said about Nabiki, she never jumped to conclusions without some solid evidence to guide her feet. Even though her first reaction to seeing Ranma in what first appeared to be a passionate embrace with the same Chinese girl that had been trying to kill him the night before was to feel a stab of betrayal, and to go into her professional mode that she used at school. Once she shunted all emotions for later, and looked at the scene again, she noted that all the passion was on the girl's side.

After a night of wild sex with Ranma, she knew what kind of kisser Ranma was. He didn't just stand there, he guided the tour.

So with Ice Queen persona fully in place, she proceeded to pull Ranma out of the grasp of Shampoo and tried to stare the girl down.

888

"Laws of the Amazons; in the event that a woman warrior is defeated by an outsider if her opponent is a woman she must give her the kiss of death and kill her? However…if her opponent is a man she must make him her husband?"

"This can't be real, this must be some sick joke."

"Sorry, Ranma, it's all right here."

" I can't deal with this. I'll be outside."

888

Ranma was on the roof, trying to think of how to get out of this situation when he heard a noise behind him. Turning to look, he tensed up.

"Ryoga."

"Ranma."

"What was the big idea in bringing her here?"

"Such a cute girl, I just couldn't say no to the one thing she wanted most. Killing you!" The pail of water that Ranma missed seeing came flying at him, drenching him with cold water. For a split second, Ranma swore that he would make his father pay for stealing his last bit of waterproof soap.

Ranma dropped like a stone as his body shifted, unconscious. Ranma wasn't still and quiet for very long, however, as the sun broke from behind cloud cover and bathed Ranma and Ryoga in sunlight. Ranma's screams of pain shocked Ryoga as he watched the petite redhead's body squirm and twitch to get away from the light.

"So it's true." Ryoga said to himself.

888

Akane's thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of Ranma's screams coming from outside. The sound had a quality that made Akane's teeth grate and hair stand on end. She hated that sound, because of what it represented. While Nabiki jumped up and ran outside, Akane stayed where she was and tried to ignore the howls of pain.

When Ranma had first arrived and beat her in a sparring match, Akane had felt betrayed that the girl she was befriending wasn't a girl at all. But then her screams started, only when Ranma was a girl in daylight did it happen, but they always made her feel horrible because she was secretly glad that she hurt.

That was before she overheard the conversation between Ranma, Nabiki, and Akira. Then it all made sense. Why Ranma went unconscious if he got wet during the day and screamed when in sunlight. Why Nabiki had taken an instant liking to him. His cursed form was a vampire.

Akane had solid thoughts on vampires, thanks to Nabiki's fascination with them when they were all younger. Nabiki had, before their mother died, been one of those gothic girls that were obsessed with vampires and black clothing. Nabiki would constantly scare Akane with false teeth and stories about how the vampires were coming to get her.

Ranma and his curse had only seemed to confirm all of her fears.

Things had been different since they had gotten back from their trip to Hong Kong. Ranma hadn't…screamed as much and Akane saw less of the thing that had come to represent some of her darkest fears, the redhead that had defeated her so easily the first night.

Finding Ryoga had done wonders for Akane's state of mind, having a wolf to protect her and share in her desire to get rid of Ranma settled her down and gave her a sense of security that had been missing.

Akane was eagerly waiting for some sound of that Chinese bimbo, hoping that she had capitalized on Ranma's sudden incapacity.

Akane had put some of her plans on hold for the past few weeks, but now that it was obvious that events like this were going to be a little more common place, she decided to move forward with them.

Thankfully, Ranma had stopped screaming. Akane got up slowly and went outside, looking for some purple hair.

888

Pain.

Her whole body was aflame as if she were being burned. She couldn't see, it was too bright and she was blinded by the light. For the briefest of moments she felt as if she were flying, but the pain drove all coherent thought from her. Her skin burned, her throat was raw, if she could have held on to a thought it would have been to wish that she could die.

Suddenly, the pain was gone and she was now a he. Ranma felt lost as disorientation prevented him from immediately figuring out what happened. He found himself being cradled in Nabiki's arms, his head in her lap and her tears falling on his face.

This was the first time since Hong Kong that Ranma had changed during the day. He had forgotten how painful it was and he grasped Nabiki like his life depended on it and started to cry at the memory of the pain and the thought of having to endure it again.

It was a tender moment between the two, their first since that morning, unfortunately, it couldn't last long, maybe long enough though. Just as Ranma started to calm down in Nabiki's arms, Nabiki released him and pushed away from Ranma as a bonbori flew through the air where she had been a few seconds before.

"Where Girl type Ranma?" Screeched Shampoo as she stood over Ranma. She looked at Nabiki with hard eyes. "You know where! Tell Shampoo now!"

Nabiki was still gasping air as she collected herself from just preventing an early funeral for herself. She pointed in a random direction over the wall just to get rid of the bitch.

"Stay away from Shampoo Airen or Shampoo will do same to you as Shampoo do to Girl Ranma." And with that Shampoo jumped the wall and gave chase.

Nabiki's eyes hardened as Shampoo made her threat. Nobody ever threatened Nabiki Tendo and got away with it. Nobody ever took anything from Nabiki Tendo and got away with it. It was one thing to try and kill Ranma, that had become old hat and she knew he could take care of himself, it was quite another to threaten her.

"C'mon Ranma, we've got something to do before she gets back."

After a few calls and a brainstorming session with Ranma later, they both felt that they were ready to face the Chinese huntress

888

The next morning, Nabiki went to go and wake up Ranma and found Shampoo snuggled up in bed with him. Nabiki pulled out her camera and snapped a few pictures. She looked at the window to see the sun still down so she got some water and poured it on the pair and started taking pictures of the chase that Shampoo gave Ranma.

Nabiki left school early and wasn't back until later that afternoon. She didn't come home alone.

With her were several government men and none of them looked happy. Spotting Shampoo latched onto Ranma's arm they moved forward and seized her.

"Shampoo, you are under arrest for entering this country illegally, attempted murder, possession of dangerous weaponry…" They had her cuffed and were dragging her out the door before she knew what was going on. Nabiki couldn't resist to tease her as they led her out.

"Too big an obstacle for you?"

Shampoo's foot came up and knocked the first government man down, she broke the handcuffs they had on her like nothing and then lunged for Nabiki, screaming murder.

Shampoo never got to her. The second agent pistol-whipped Shampoo across the back of her head, sending her down for the count. Nabiki breathed a sigh of relief.

After loading Shampoo up into a car and strapping her in, the first agent turned to Nabiki and thanked her for helping them catch her before she killed anybody. They left soon after promising to keep Nabiki informed on the case.

Nabiki then went inside and sat down as if there was nothing wrong. Everybody except Kasumi and Ranma was watching her like they expected an explanation.

When no explanation was forthcoming, Akane decided to come forward. "Nabiki? Why…? How…?"

"Nobody threatens me. It is amazing how quickly the Chinese Embassy will act when one of their citizens is about to start a war with another country." Nabiki left it at that. 

888

"You get one phone call."

"Great Grandmother"

TBC…


	10. Chapter 9

Vampire Chapter Nine.

J.W. Leonard / The characters and settings are not mine, The characters will also be out of character, however, I believe that all characters are out of character when not written by their original author or in their designated setting that is properly published. Meaning that if you want to see all the characters remain in character then I suggest that you pick up the Manga or watch the Anime rather than read my story or any other fanfiction you may find. That said, I hope that you continue to read my story and find it enjoyable.

C&C welcome

Flames will be used to cook my dinner and warm my toes.

Nabiki was suddenly awake with an unfamiliar urge that would not be denied. It was still dark, so she had a little trouble getting out of her room in time, but she managed the short trip from her room to the bathroom down the hall. Time seemed to slow and stop for her as she approached her destination when suddenly time slammed back to normal, as she was violently sick into the toilet.

Nobody came to see if she needed help or if anything was wrong so Nabiki assumed that it was both too early for anybody to be up and she hadn't woken anybody up. After she felt her stomach settle back down and she brushed her teeth, she went back to her room to go back to sleep. Her digital clock was an angry red that only darkness could reveal; it announced that it was still before five a.m.

The light from the clock revealed a small photo of an enraged Shampoo sitting in a jail cell, Nabiki had visited the Chinese girl earlier in the week to settle her nerves and hopefully quiet her dreams. She had been having nightmares that either Shampoo had killed Ranma or that Nabiki hadn't been able to dodge the bonbori in time. Shampoo had not reacted well to Nabiki's presence. She apparently still wanted to kill Nabiki despite being in jail.

Nabiki laid in bed and thought back to the events of the week so far. Ranma had been depressed about how it had ended, probably sad that Shampoo didn't just give everything up. He had confessed to Nabiki that Shampoo was like a cute girl when she wasn't trying to kill him. Nabiki almost thought that he felt bad for the homicidal girl, but when Ryoga showed up again, Ranma had surprised everybody by yelling for Ryoga to die.

Apparently Ranma wasn't too happy about being splashed with water during the day near Shampoo. Normally their fights were even, but then again Ryoga was usually the aggressor. The surprise of being attacked first gave Ranma the leverage to end the fight quickly, leaving a bruised Ryoga behind.

Nabiki smiled lazily as she remembered what she had said to Ryoga as he lay where Ranma had left him. Ranma had left him in a rather pathetic looking pile that whimpered occasionally. Nabiki had sat beside him and calmly spoke to him about the dangers of upsetting her, and how she didn't care if he insisted on fighting Ranma at every opportunity but he had damn well better not ever use water as a weapon against Ranma again in the future during the day or Ryoga would find out just how much worse a hell she could make for him.

Ryoga apparently took it to heart because he stopped trying to hit Ranma with water guns during the day. Though it may have been Nabiki's questions on Ryoga's knowledge of what a eunuch was.

Nabiki drifted off to sleep with Ryoga's green tinged face contorted in disgust and fear in her mind's eye.

Nabiki awoke some hours later to the sounds of fighting and martial arts outside her window. Once awake, the smells of breakfast and coffee presented themselves to her nose for approval. Despite having been sick earlier, Nabiki felt famished. Of the many things that Nabiki was, a morning person she was not. She never felt human until after her second cup of coffee.

Ranma's voice could be heard outside, as well as Genma's; their martial arts style specialized in taunting an enemy to throw them off balance. When Ranma first arrived at the Tendo's, it was almost instinctive for him to throw taunts in and out of combat. Ranma had only taunted Nabiki once and she taught him the folly of doing that twice.

As both Ranma and Genma squared off in the backyard, Ranma giving a wide berth to the Tendo's koi pond, Nabiki prepared her coffee and sat down to watch them.

A long time ago, Nabiki practiced martial arts like Ranma did now, but the death of her mother had caused Nabiki to give up a lot of things in her life, martial arts being one of them. Watching Ranma spar and fight brought back memories of those days so long ago in more ways than one.

It wasn't a school day today, so there wasn't much planned for the day beyond doing a few chores around the house to help Kasumi and maybe catch up on some homework.

It was midday when there was a knock at he gate.

"Nabiki, there's a package here for you." Kasumi called from the front door.

Nabiki came down the stairs and picked up the small package that bore her name. Seeing who it was from brought a smile to her face. Taking it up to her room for some privacy, Nabiki was eager to see what Eve had sent her and Ranma.

The package contained a few envelopes and a single box of waterproof soap. The envelopes were thin but expensive looking and were addressed to her specifically. She opened one and read what it had to say. After reading it twice to make sure she had read it correctly, she opened the second envelope and nearly fainted. Inside the envelope was a check for over a thousand U.S. dollars.

The note had stated that the money was to be used for both her and Ranma's well being.

Ranma was outside sparring with his pops. Ranma had started to emulate Ryoga and carry an umbrella around with him and had worked it into his exercises and spars. He didn't use it as a weapon as the lost boy was prone to do, but as a preventative against untimely splashes during a fight or any other time.

As it was, Ranma was meeting with some success at using the umbrella to stay dry while Soun was on the sideline with the water hose.

"Growf, Growf." Boy, I taught you better than this! Genma didn't have nearly as much luck nor as much inspiration to stay dry as Ranma had.

"I'm just getting used to this thing. I need it if I'm going to remain a guy during the day, so I have to get used to using during battle. Unless you think I can beat an opponent by screaming in pain?" Ranma moved awkwardly with the umbrella open while trying to execute several mid air punches and kicks at the panda. Soun took aim with the water hose and fired. Ranma was barely able to get the umbrella in the way in time.

"I think that it is good that Ranma is being proactive about his problem, don't you agree Soatome?"

"Growf."

P-chan had been watching Ranma practice his new technique with a little bit of annoyance, but doing so in silence. The thought of running out and snatching Ranma's umbrella had crossed his mind a few times, but thought better of it. Akane wasn't there to defend him if he did.

It was Soun who ended up stopping the exercise after Ranma had gone for more than thirty minutes without getting wet despite his best efforts. Inviting the panda to get dried off while he set the board up for a game of Go, Soun put the hose up and went inside.

Kasumi came out while everybody was still in the yard. "Has anybody seen Hikaldo?"

"No, we haven't seen him at all." Came Soun's reply.

Nabiki came up to the door and scanned the yard for Ranma. Spotting him, she came up and whispered something in his ear, and gave a meaningful look at Genma. Ranma looked as well and got a huge grin on his face. Genma was a little preoccupied with Go to notice.

"We're going to go to the store to pick up some stuff for Kasumi, okay father." Nabiki called out as she drug Ranma to the door.

"That's good dear, why don't you take Ranma with you, it would be chance for the two of you to get to know each other better." Soun hadn't looked up from the board.

Ranma and Nabiki paused and looked at Soun, before giving an 'alright', and heading out the door.

Soun gave his Go partner an even look. "They seem to be getting along just fine, I don't see why you are so concerned."

"Growf" Just a feeling. I still say that we should push for a wedding sooner.

"Nonsense Soatome, they're still young. Let's not push them into anything too soon. Once they've settled into the engagement for a year, then we can safely push."

"Grrr…" Why are you so soft on me now? You were ready to call a priest the first day.

"Yes, well…you don't know my daughters, so much like their mother…"

Genma let it drop right there by making a move and drawing Soun into the game. Once the conversation got to Soun's deceased wife then he would be useless for anything beyond that for the rest of the day.

888

"Okay, Nabiki, what are we getting again?" Ranma was on the fence while Nabiki was on the ground. Ranma's umbrella was propped on his shoulder.

"We got a package from Eve today…you have some more soap…ooff." Ranma was suddenly hugging Nabiki tightly and dancing with her.

"Al'right! Finally a break from the water! I was going nuts!"

"That's the good news, the bad news is that you only got one bar." That brought Ranma down a little. One bar would only last a couple of weeks of conservative use, and that was if Genma didn't find it.

Ranma swore a little, but that was until he saw the gleam in Nabiki's eye. "What have you got planned?"

"Nothing much, just another bar of soap and some itching powder. We let your old man think he got your bar of soap and wait until he tries to use it. Then…"

"Watch him scratch like crazy."

"There was something else I wanted to talk to you about." Nabiki was suddenly somber. "About us. About what happened between us that night." Nabiki grabbed Ranma's arm as they walked. She felt him tense up at the sudden contact, but quickly relaxed.

"You made it pretty clear that you didn't want to talk about it on the way home." Ranma said neutrally.

" I know, but I've had time to think about us since then. I wasn't prepared for what we did then, and since then we haven't spent any time alone with each other…"

"…Like before." Ranma finished for her.

"Right. We were moving way too fast and that scared me, you scared me…I scared myself…" Nabiki finished lamely.

"I don't know what you're saying."

"Don't say anything, just let me talk until I'm done. I'm trying to say that I'm sorry for pushing you away so hard after that night. It was wonderful, but it was too soon. If anybody ever finds out about it then we'll be married faster than you can eat breakfast. I haven't felt like this before for anybody and the fact that I'm feeling anything at all is scaring me." Nabiki wiped her eyes as they walked.

"I'm both scared of these feelings for you and yet I'm even more terrified of losing them, of losing you. I know that I've been a total bitch for the past month, and I've seen that look in your eyes have for me fading each day, but when you ran out of soap and I heard you scream…it tore me up so bad, and yet it felt good to know that you needed me." Nabiki finished softly; her grip on Ranma's sleeve was tight, like she was expecting him to push her off of him.

Ranma didn't know what to say. He had felt hurt since Nabiki had shut him out of her life after they had slept together, he had felt alone and lost without somebody to guide him, his father just said to seek out his fiancé when he came to him. So Ranma had done the only thing he could think of, he tried to lose himself in his Art and his schoolwork, something that Nabiki had literally drilled into him. It had helped distract him from feeling alone in a crowded room.

"What are you saying?" Was the only thing that Ranma could think of to say. He felt stupid for saying it, but everything else didn't seem right.

Nabiki felt a little glad that Ranma hadn't rejected her; she didn't know if she would have been as patient if a boy had pulled the same thing with her. Swallowing the lump in her throat she tried to answer his question. "I'm saying that I would like to see you again like before, I don't want to be alone like I was."

Nabiki could feel Ranma tense up and stop as she said those words. She couldn't bring herself to look up into his face even though she wanted too.

Ranma, however, was currently staring at something that had occupied his nightmares for several years. He had heard Nabiki and was currently torn between his fear and giving her an answer. The little monster was currently coming towards them, straight towards them, and with each step, Ranma was losing more of his nerve. So he spoke quickly.

"Nabiki…" Ranma's throat was dry from fear, Ranma shut his eyes to avoid looking at the beast, as long as it didn't make a sound or touch him, and he would be okay. "I…don't want…I would like…I…" Ranma started to shake from the effort of staying with Nabiki, the monster had started to rub against his legs.

Nabiki didn't know how to respond to Ranma's sudden shift in behavior. He was fine until she said that she wanted to be with him again. When he started to tremble against her, she looked up and saw that his face was pale and sweating, and his eyes tightly scrunched up and looking skyward. Nabiki felt something brush up against her leg, but paid it no attention.

"I…" Ranma gripped Nabiki's hand with his own.

"I…" Ranma could feel himself conquering his fear.

"I…want…to be with you as well." And it was at that point that the cat chose to get his attention by both meowing and using his claws on his leg. Nabiki was suddenly standing by herself holding Ranma's sleeve while a very confused cat was wondering where the boy went.

Nabiki and the cat both stood there for a few minutes wondering what brought that reaction on. If Nabiki had been Akane, she would have automatically assumed the worst about Ranma and thought that he didn't want her, but Nabiki had been listening.

So that left several options open for that kind of reaction. Either it was the situation itself, or it was the cat. Either way, Nabiki wasn't done talking to Ranma. She continued to make her way to the store to pick up the soap and the itching powder, extra strength. She just had a feeling that Ranma's father would have a direct hand in Ranma's reaction.

Ranma was, however, sitting on top of the highest light pole he could find as he hyperventilated waiting for the cat to go away. He could feel the old memories that he had locked away coming out to haunt him again.

"Man, how am I going to explain this to Nabiki?"

The cat wondered off eventually.

888

Elsewhere; in a government holding facility.

"Hey! Chinagirl! You got a package." The guard held up a small box that had obviously been opened and rooted through before it had been brought to Shampoo.

"Who it from?" Shampoo was tired of staring at the same four walls and eager to get back to the hunt, but all attempts at escape had been curtailed before she even tried, her great-grandmother's orders to stay put were still ringing in her ears.

"Doesn't say on the box who exactly, put there's a note inside as well as some water." The guard passed the small package over to Shampoo with care. Shampoo opened the package and retrieved the letter. She knew that both the note and the water had been inspected before getting to her, but the note held nothing for those not trained in the ways of the amazons.

Read by itself, the note was one of grief and anger over what Shampoo had done, something that any family member would write to somebody who was just thrown in jail for attempted murder. In reality, it scolded her for being sloppy and the water was there as both punishment and her means of escape as well as a place to meet.

Shampoo smiled at the thought of being free once again, and would gladly endure any punishment to escape this prison.

The next morning, the only thing in Shampoo's room was a set of soggy prisoner's clothes.

888

Nabiki was on her way home when Ranma caught up with her again. He did look extremely embarrassed and had a sad look in his eye. His umbrella seemed to be a little damp. Nabiki hadn't been long, long enough for her to hit a couple of stores to get very specific things and something that she was glad Ranma wasn't there to see her get.

After walking in silence for a few minutes, Ranma finally broke the silence.

"Ahhh…Sorry about…leaving earlier."

"Sigh I heard you before you vanished. So you are going to make it up to me by telling me, in great detail, why."

"Because I like you…"

"Not that, Ranma. Why did you go away? What had you so spooked that it could have ruined any possible hope for a relationship between us if you hadn't said what you did before you left me with your sleeve?"

"Oh…that. It was the c.cat."

"You're that scared of cats?" Nabiki noted the slight wince at the mention of cat.

"You try being tossed into a pit with a bunch of those little monsters and tell me you aren't bothered by them afterwards." Ranma said hotly.

"Waitaminute! What do you mean 'tossed into a pit'?"

"When I was six, pops did it to teach me…"

"When you were SIX?"

"Uhm…yeah."

"You know, suddenly, itching powder just doesn't seem to be enough. Let's get back to the house, Ranma." Nabiki latched onto Ranma's bare arm as they headed to the dojo.

Unnoticed by either of them, a cat was watching both of them with a disbelieving look on its face.

888

"So, how do we do this?"

"We just have to let your pop know that you have another bar of waterproof soap and let him 'find' this one."

"Sounds easy enough. Say, Nabs?"

"Yes, Ranma?"

"Could ya do me a favor and not tell anybody about my fear of c cats?"

"For a price."

"What? I can't believe you!"

"Believe it, but before you get all upset, you had better ask me what my price is before I change my mind."

"Okay. Name your price."

"Dinner and a movie...tonight."

"Oh…okay."

"And Ranma. Don't worry about using your soap tonight, I told you before that I don't mind your curse."

"That makes one of us."

"What was that?"

"Let's get this stuff to pops real quick, I want to see him scratch before we head out."

"Sounds good to me."

It didn't take much to get Genma to steal the 'waterproof' soap that Ranma and Nabiki set up, and were both rewarded with a cry of frustration from a panda and then laughter as the panda proceeded scratch himself on whatever was handy.

"Soatome, why are you scratching like that? Do you have a rash?" Soun's concerned voice held some mirth to it as he watched the panda that was his friend scratching furiously all over. The fact that Nabiki and Ranma were howling with laughter off to the side told him what happened, but this was too funny to take seriously.

Nabiki told Kasumi that her and Ranma weren't going to be in for dinner that night and to also cover for them. Nabiki had a hunch that Akane would do her best to disrupt any time she had with Ranma. As it was, Akane was never far away from her and Ranma as it was.

They both dressed casual so as not to arouse suspicion around the house and left just before sunset.

Dinner was at a modest restaurant where they talked about nothing and enjoyed each other's company. That is, that was the plan. What actually happened was that Ranma was so nervous that he couldn't contribute much to the conversation without putting his foot in his mouth. Luckily nobody spilled anything on anybody.

Ranma finally relaxed when the food came out and they were able to eat. While Ranma had picked up a lot of bad habits from his father, Nabiki had been slowly breaking some of those habits. All it took was a look for Ranma to eat at a rate that was normal.

After eating, Ranma walked with Nabiki to the theater. The movie they settled on was an American import that was better than Ranma expected. It was actually Ranma's first time seeing an American movie, so they went for one of the big special effects movies that had just been released and dubbed.

It was during the movie when Ranma's soda managed to spill itself all over Ranma, triggering the change. Ranma was about to get up and change back when Nabiki stopped her with a hand on her arm and a look in her eyes. After getting Nabiki to scoot down a seat to get out of the wet spot left by the soda, Ranma enjoyed the rest of the show as a vampire.

Ranma had felt nervous ever since leaving the Tendo Dojo and only started to feel better when they were in the theater; his nervousness came back once they left the theater and started to walk home. Ranma hadn't changed back to male yet, mainly due to lack of opportunity, but Nabiki didn't seem to mind.

One of the things that Ranma noticed when she was a vampire was her stomach. Not her abdomen, but rather her actual stomach. If she got splashed just after she ate, then the food would be an uncomfortable presence within her until she either changed back or expelled it from her body.

Ranma had found that while food would remain in her body if she ate while as a human, she couldn't eat any herself and the attempt would invariably cause her to vomit up whatever she had eaten before as well.

Chewing didn't bring on the reaction, but swallowing did. She could chew her food, but not swallow anything. She couldn't even drink water.

Food also tasted differently when she was like this too. She could still taste the food, but it was muted, almost bland to the point of being tasteless.

One of the other odd things was that she wouldn't feel hungry after emptying her stomach of whatever food she had eaten while human. She never did actually feel hungry when she was a vampire, but then again, she had avoided much time as one as possible.

Ranma's nervousness reminded him of his time in China, just after he visited the Amazon village and Shampoo was out to get them. But that couldn't be right, Shampoo was in jail now.

Once they got back to the house, it was late enough that everybody would usually be in bed, but when the front door opened and the family poured out, it was obvious that neither of them had been devious enough fool anybody for long.

Nabiki was taken aside by Kasumi and Akane, who took one look at Ranma's girl form and eeped before heading off with her sisters.

Soun and Genma congratulated Ranma before telling him to go and take a bath. The soda spilt on her earlier was now sticky and smelled funny.

With Nabiki, it was like having two conversations with her sisters, Kasumi was saying things that any girl would say when her sister had just gone on a date. Things like "Was it romantic," "Give me all the details," and "Did he kiss you,".

Akane was asking questions more like, "where did he bite you, what did he do to you, and he kidnapped you didn't he,"

Both Nabiki and Kasumi were looking at Akane like she had grown a second head and were about to say something to the effect of how rude she was when they were interrupted by a scream of absolute terror coming from the bathroom.

Ranma had gotten to the bathroom and turned the water for the hot water on so he could have a good soak. After disrobing, Ranma looked at herself in the mirror, something that she hadn't actually done yet.

It really bothered her that she looked like this because of the curse. Her skin was white, an almost perfect alabaster that held no imperfections that she could see. Everything about this body was smaller than her male body, but what really bothered her was what was between her legs.

Ranma had never looked beyond the fact that something was most definitely missing from down there to notice anything else about it. She shuddered at the thought of what she would find before turning to scrub down for the night. The soda had turned her red hair a light brownish color where it had spilled, and she could see it starting to matt.

Turning towards the wash area, Ranma spotted the cat.

Ranma screamed and ran in circles around the bathing area as the cat gave chase to her before they both ended up in the hot water filling the furor. Suddenly male and human, Ranma had a chance to see an equally naked Shampoo pop out of the hot water where the cat had landed.

Shampoo wasted no time in clamping down on Ranma's body as he was stunned by this sudden appearance of a naked girl.

All of this just in time for the door to open and the rest of the family to spill into the bathroom, drawn by Ranma's scream of terror. Everybody froze at the site of the two naked bodies in what at first appeared to be a compromising situation.

"Wo di ni Arien."


	11. Chapter 10

Vampire Chapter Ten

J.W. Leonard

Nabiki's night was ruined. Whatever good feelings she had from the date with Ranma evaporated like so much water in a blast furnace when she saw Shampoo in the bath with Ranma.

Fear, disgust, and finally anger washed through Nabiki as she looked on in shock at what should not have been happening.

"You…You…You PERVERT! HOW CAN YOU FLIRT WITH SHAMPOO IN OUR BATHROOM?" Akane's indignant and outrageous outburst broke the spell for the group.

Shampoo rose from the water and off of the pale and shaken Ranma in all her naked glory and with a final glare at Nabiki, hit the wall of the bathroom that led outside.

Nabiki rushed out of the bathroom, heedless of the sounds of Akane's voice yelling at Ranma for being with Shampoo. She quickly dialed the number for the prison where Shampoo was supposed to be.

Nabiki didn't even wait for the person who answered the phone to finish saying hello.

"Why the hell wasn't I told that Shampoo escaped! No, I will not calm down! I demand answers! This homicidal girl that I put into jail, YOUR JAIL, and who tried to kill me and other members of my family just left a big hole in our bathroom! DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN AGAIN! YOU GET AN AMAZON BITCH AFTER YOU AND YOURS AND WE'LL SEE HOW CALM YOU ARE! SLAM The phone cradle managed to survive the final onslaught of Nabiki's outburst.

Nabiki's knees gave out from under her and she started to sob by the phone. She had gotten rid of her. She shouldn't have been able to get at her and take Ranma away from her. She was supposed to be in jail.

Nabiki felt arms wrap around her and she heard Ranma's voice call her name softly. Not caring how it looked, Nabiki grabbed Ranma to make him stay and sobbed into his chest.

Ranma had no idea what to do, but the thought of Nabiki crying just didn't make him feel good. So he just sat there in the hall while Nabiki cried into his shoulder.

Kasumi came along and helped Ranma carry Nabiki to her room. Nabiki was asleep before Ranma put her into bed.

Ranma had been shocked at Shampoo's return, but halfway expected it. What really bothered him was that Shampoo apparently turned into a cat, and Nabiki's reaction to her return.

Ranma was about to leave the room when Nabiki grabbed his hand.

"Don't leave me alone." She whispered.

Kasumi was standing at the doorway and heard Nabiki's plea.

"Don't worry, Ranma. I'll get you something to sleep on. Just stay with her." Kasumi sounded tired, but strong. Ranma nodded while accepting a pillow from her.

"What about Akane?" Ranma suddenly thought of the youngest daughter's tendency to react badly to anything he did.

"I'll handle her." Kasumi said as she shut the door leaving Ranma in darkness.

Ranma slept on the floor by Nabiki's bed that night.

888

The police were waiting when Nabiki and Ranma woke up in the morning. The officer in charge took some statements from them both. Ranma ended up telling a slightly modified story of what happened in the bathroom. Cats turning into girls wasn't something you brought up in front of a police officer, they were notorious for their lack of humor.

They were done in time to finish breakfast and go to school. Nabiki chose to go with Ranma, but she did enforce her timetable upon him.

Before Nabiki left, she did make sure to call a repair crew to fix the new ventilation in the bathroom wall. Nabiki swore that she would find a way to make Shampoo pay for the walls she kept busting through. Or see her in bars again.

Neither of the them got very far before an irate Akane stalked up to Ranma from behind and proceeded to boot him into the sky with a cry of "PERVERT!"

"Uncute bitch!" Was Ranma's fading reply.

"You had better have a damn good reason for doing that, little sister." Nabiki's cool voice betrayed nothing while her eyes bore into Akane. Last night she had been rattled, but now the Ice Queen mask was back in place and Akane had just earned a grade a glare.

"Kasumi kept me from doing it earlier, but he deserved it! He was in your room this morning. He was kissing all over Shampoo last night, too! Right after your date, no less! He's nothing but a womanizing perverted boy!" Akane heatedly said before stalking off to school.

Nabiki silently counted to ten before responding to Akane's rant.

"Akane, did it ever cross your mind that I wanted my fiancé in my room with me? Especially after Shampoo, who tried to kill me and him, just escaped from jail and came immediately here to either steal Ranma or kill us both? Since you have such a high opinion of yourself, you can walk me to school and defend your older sister if the Amazon comes to play."

"Oh…But he still…"

"Shut up. I don't want to hear it. Let's just go to school." Nabiki was thinking of ways to punish Akane for this and all the other times that she assaulted Ranma for the littlest of things.

Meanwhile, Ranma was flying through the air wondering what the hell set Akane off this time when he sensed a presence coming at him.

Ranma gracefully dodged or countered several mid-air attacks from the unknown presence before lightly landing on a rooftop in a defensive position facing his opponent.

The assailant turned out to be a small, elderly, Chinese woman perched on a stick.

"Not bad…Son in law."

"What are you talking about, Old Ghoul?"

Whack

"Show some respect to your elders."

"Just who the heck are you?" Ranma rubbed the spot the old lady hit on his head.

"I am the Elder Cologne from the Amazon tribe. Shampoo's told me all about you." The smirk on her face just screamed trouble.

"I ain't gonna marry her. So don't even try."

"Oh, I think you'll be begging me to marry her in two or three days, future son in law." Cologne punctuated her final statement by poking Ranma in the chest with her cane.

888

Ranma got to school just in time to miss being late. After shooting Akane a glare for hitting him earlier, he took his seat and tried to pay attention. He kept going back to his confrontation with the old ghoul and how she had poked him with her cane. He could still feel the spot that she poked, it tingled like the flesh was asleep.

Ranma was leery of whatever the Amazons had planned against him but he was confident that he could overcome anything that they threw at him. Defeating Shampoo either time had not been difficult, though her new tactic of glomping him naked did seem to get past his defenses.

Putting it out of his mind, he spent the rest of the class soaking up as much knowledge as he could like Nabiki kept admonishing him to do. She knew there was a reason that she didn't like to open up emotionally. Once she let the mask on her emotions drop it took a little while for it to go back on. The date with Ranma had been enough to get her guard down so when Shampoo showed back up unexpectedly, she reacted badly.

Right now, Nabiki was thinking of a way to get back at her sister for being such a bitch the past few days to Ranma and her. Ranma may have had trouble holding a grudge against somebody but Akane's attitude had been rubbing him the wrong way as well.

Spotting Kuno, Nabiki suddenly knew what to do.

Forgery is more of an art form than a skill, and impossible to do without something original to work from. While Nabiki was a skilled forger as far as her family's or the teachers were concerned, she would be hopeless at doing anybody else's.

For what Nabiki had in mind, she had all the skills she needed. Quickly writing a note of affection in Akane's handwriting, Nabiki then passed the note over to the deluded boy.

It was almost comical to watch Kuno nearly burst into song over his love's confession of love for him.

After the teacher managed to settle Kuno down, Nabiki thought of how to get Akane out to meet him. An evil smile crept onto Nabiki's face as she decided to use Akane's prejudice against Ranma against her.

888

Ranma was in gym class and today they were doing track. Ranma had, at first enjoyed gym class, but then the other students started to complain about his above average performances during classes. If the teacher hadn't decided to grade on a curve, nobody would have said a thing.

Trying to get Ranma to tone down is like trying to ask the sun not to shine.

Ranma was running track just ahead of everybody else when the unexpected sound of a bicycle bell came from just above and ahead of Ranma.

Ranma barely stopped in time and jumped out of the way as a bicycle came crashing down right where Ranma would have been carrying Shampoo.

"Nihao, Ranma. You come with Shampoo and get married now?" Ranma didn't know what was scarier, a Shampoo trying to kill him or a Shampoo trying to marry him.

"Shampoo, I ain't gonna Crack " Cologne's staff hit Ranma's head, knocking him into the ground.

"Be a man, marry Shampoo." Ranma was quick to get back up and started to chase the old ghoul who managed to keep ahead of the boy despite being perched on a stick.

After leading Ranma around the field once, Cologne leaped into the sky to get away. With an impossible display of strength, Ranma hurled a concrete roller after the old ghoul.

At its apex, the roller was cut in half when a strange young man sliced through it effortlessly. He landed gracefully on the ground in front of Ranma. His long black hair flowing in the wind and his hands hidden within his large sleeves.

His impressive entrance was ruined, however, by the two halves of the concrete roller landing right on top of his head, knocking him to the ground. By now he had drawn a crowd from the rest of the students in the class.

After a second of lying there, he got up, shoving the large pieces of concrete off of him like they were nothing.

"Shampoo." He called out. Many of the students gasped in disbelief that he was still alive.

"Oh, Shampoo!" the strange man rushed forward and hugged Ranma in an affectionate embrace.

Fap "Who are you calling Shampoo?" Ranma planted his foot in the guy's face pushing him away.

The guy pulled out a large set of glasses from his sleeve and put them on and looked at Ranma.

"Who are YOU?" Not bothering to wait for an answer, the guy sent Ranma flying with a punch.

Ranma didn't stay away long and ended up on the guy's head on the rebound.

"Okay, just who are you?" Ranma was getting a little upset with this guy.

"I am Mousse, I am the man that is to be Shampoo's groom."

As serious as Mousse was in that declaration and before Ranma could say he could have her, Shampoo snorted in derision.

"What you talk about? We only friends, nothing more."

Cologne jumped back into the conversation at this point, having noted that Ranma hadn't given chase like she had expected.

"Mousse! You were once spurned by Shampoo!"

"But…That was when we were only three."

"Age makes no difference! It has been decided that this man is Shampoo's groom." Cologne pointed at Ranma.

"Not if you ask me, I'm not! I'm already engaged to Nabiki."

"You have a fiancé…and yet you…and Shampoo…" Mousse was absolutely shaking with rage.

"Now listen…"

"Enemy of all women!" Mousse attacked Ranma with a kick, something that Ranma had been half expecting, but that had only been a feint.

Mousse then hit Ranma with something that was more damaging than normal fists.

"You want a fight, buddy?" Ranma was not happy at being sucker punched like that.

"Yes. These are my terms! If I should win…"

"You can't have Shampoo." Cologne interjected.

"….Then I will take your woman! Nabiki!" Mousse tried pointing at the girl, but Nabiki was in class elsewhere, so he ended up pointing at Akane.

"You got it! The fight is on!" Ranma was right in his face.

"I have your pledge as a man?"

Cologne got a speculative look on her face with that.

888

"Ranma did what?"

"He put you up as a prize in his fight with this Mousse character." Akane was really enjoying telling her sister about the challenge Ranma had gotten, especially at how easy it was to put Ranma in a bad light with it. She had been waiting all day to do it too, now it was just past sunset and Ranma was inside out of hearing range.

"We'll just see about that." Nabiki said with a determined look as she brushed past Akane and went into house to look for Ranma.

Just as they were getting inside, they heard Ranma's male voice rip through the house in cries of pain coming from the bathroom. When both of them got to the bathroom they found a naked female Ranma dousing herself with cold water like her life depended on it.

Akane had been getting brave so she stuck around.

"What's wrong?" Nabiki asked with some caring in her voice, the terms of the battle where she was a prize momentarily forgotten.

"The water is boiling." Ranma gestured to the steaming furo.

Kasumi, who had been drawn to Ranma's cries as well, stuck her finger in the water.

"It's barely warm." She announced.

"But it was so **hot**!" Ranma insisted.

"From now on, even lukewarm water will scald you." Cologne appeared in the doorway in the house on her staff.

"The pressure-point I touched makes your whole body as sensitive as a cat's tongue." Ranma put her hand over the spot Cologne had touched that morning.

"You need warm water to become male. To be a man…Agree to be Shampoo's groom."

"You can't make me, you old ghoul." Ranma was about to launch herself at the old ghoul to make her reverse it but cologne disappeared out of sight before Ranma could get to her.

"What about your 'pledge as a man'?" Akane brought up the original reason that she and Nabiki were there in the first place.

Ranma didn't have an answer for that.

888

That night was a long one as Ranma continued to attempt to change back into a guy, but she couldn't even tolerate water above room temperature without screaming in pain. The temperature that Nabiki and he had determined would cause the change was higher than that. Every time that Ranma was able to change, he reversed it in an a mad dash for cold water.

Nabiki was a little concerned about this new development, especially since she remembered hearing about the cat's tongue spot once before. She was about to go to bed when she snapped her fingers as the memory finally presented itself. Nabiki's stomach dropped as she realized just where she heard it last and quickly got the number for Hong Kong.

"Hello?" The speaker's voice sounded tired, but Nabiki wasn't going to wait for morning.

"I need to speak with Eve."

"I don't think that you have…"

"Look, you little shit. Ranma has been locked as a girl by an elder Amazon using the Cat's Tongue, I know that this is the number for Eve, so don't play games with me!"

"Nabiki?" Eve's voice suddenly came on the line. "What's wrong?

Nabiki told Eve everything that had happened that she knew of. Including what she hadn't told anybody else about.

888

Right before daybreak, Ranma was frantically trying to come up with something so that she could face off against Mousse in a match later in the day.

"What's the strongest sunscreen we have?"

"Ranma, Yawn Go to bed, Ranma" Genma said to his 'son'.

"Can't sleep like this. You know that."

At that moment, the sun peaked over the edge of the horizon, fortunately, Ranma wasn't on that side of the house. Ranma slumped, unconscious, to the floor suddenly.

Genma had seen this before when they were in China, so he wasn't concerned with it. Genma figured that now was a good time to douse the boy with hot water to both wake him up and get back as a boy.

Splash

"Yeeeaaaaargghhh!"

Ranma's scream of pain woke the entire household.

Ranma quickly ran to the bathroom and doused himself in cold water. Rushing past Soun, Akane, Kasumi, and Nabiki like a bat out of hell. She gave a sigh of relief before falling unconscious again.

"Looks like that won't work." Nabiki deadpanned.

Kasumi went into the bathroom and tried to rouse Ranma by shaking her shoulder.

"Ooh!"

"What's wrong Kasumi?" Soun asked.

"I think Ranma's dead."


End file.
